It strikes me that the significant bulk of the British snuff industry has hailed from just three family dynasties over the last 300 years; London, Sheffield, and Kendal:

• Fribourg / Fribourg & Treyer - founded Haymarket, London 1720; sold-out to Imperial in the 1980s (recipes since bought by Wilsons’ who recreate many of them as faithfully as possible);
• Wilsons of Sharrow - founded 1737;

J&H Branch out in 1895, sell-out to Imperial in 1953

• Thomas Harrison sets-up in Kendal in 1792 with a 1740s-1750s gunpowder mill from Glasgow - his granddaughter marries Samuel Gawith (1^st). Samuel Gawith company still going strong, and still using that 18th Century mill!

Illingworth (former director at SG) (1867-1980s) sold-out to Imperial sometime 1980s, after a fire
Gawith Hoggarth (mid 1880s-present day) - seems to have at least partially sold-out to Poschl

OK - we also have: Hedges (Birmingham chemist) - L260 (and other snuffs) sometime 1880s - L260 still produced by Imperial and a few very respectable newer blenders, who mostly seem to get their base snuffs from either WoS or SG. Does anyone know anything about snuff in the UK pre-1720?

I’d imagine @PhilipS would - he’s a veritable font of snuff knowledge, but I haven’t seen him around here for a while.

I’ve only found one thing “About 1700, David Ogilvy built one of the first snuff-mills to be erected in the north of Scotland, in Dundee,”. Always something.

http://snuffhouse.org/discussion/5206/snuff-timeline

@Juxtaposer Many thanks - had not seen that. Ironic that it makes no mention of either Wilson or Harrison/Gawith Dynasties.

a note from use of snuff in Ottoman: In 17th century IV. Murat banned the use of tobacco products (hokka etc) so the consumption of tobacco switched to smokeless form (snuff). In 1750 there were 60 shops in Istanbul which have permission to sell snuffs. (Prime Minister’s archive)

Wow! Perhaps we could persuade Cameron to have a similar effect in London? Rebirth of F&T and G Smith’s (perhaps with comparable chandlers or chains of stores in other cities) would be a dream …

You have any evidence that Boris is one of us?

;))

“It strikes me that the significant bulk of the British snuff industry has hailed from just three family dynasties over the last 300 years…” Easy to suppose so, but not so. The venerable names you mention are but scant survivors of what was once a thriving nationwide industry. Nineteenth century Britain was no longer the heyday of snuff manufacture, but a glance at commercial directories (online eBooks) gives an idea of the number of snuff grinders/manufacturers that have long since vanished. Just see how many there were in Liverpool and Edinburgh. Snuff mills on the River Wandle, meanwhile, supplied the many snuff chandlers/blenders in London. Two of the most famous names were Hardham’s (makers of the once famous No. 37) and Sales & Pollard (makers of S.P). Wiltshire was long associated with snuff manufacture. E. & W. Anstie, Ltd. of Devizes established what was an early snuff manufactory in the 1690s. It became one of the largest of its kind, surviving until well into the 20th century. Furthermore the county was suited to the establishment of tobacco plantations, which thrived until Acts of Parliament prohibited them. The importance of snuff manufacture in Devizes is evidenced by names such as Snuff Street and Snuff Court. See the following: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=102814 British History Online, by the way, is a veritable goldmine for snuff history in the UK. You can research the extent of snuff manufacturing in Wales and Scotland as well as England. Interesting information on snuffbox manufacture too, particularly that in Laurencekirk (after which the famous hinge is named) and Auchinleck.

Well put @PhilipS To add to the evidence, here is an excerpt from White’s Directory for Hull, 1846. Hull was a town of around 70,000 inhabitants then. To find 7 tobacco and snuff manufacturers and another 18 dealers says a lot about the popularity of snuff then. Interesting to note a “Robert Lundy” there. Perhaps it was an assumed name, harking back to the famous Lundy Foot snuff from Dublin. Also note the Thomas Mitchell & Co. at 9 Market Place, the origin of that snuff flyer I posted about the other day.

Interesting list - and proof of the extent of snuff manufacturing and consumption. I also thought the flyer looked mid-18th century. It reminded me of other flyers from that time advertising an altogether more odious trade. Regrettably my online searches for T. Mitchell drew a blank.