Tate & Lyle history

After the end of Britain’s own slave-empire, its cotton industry continued to depend on slave-grown cotton from the southern states of the US until 1865.

Their partnership ended in 1869 and Tate’s two sons, Alfred and Edwin joined the business forming Henry Tate & Sons.

He began building his new refinery in Liverpool in 1870.

A new refinery in Love Lane, Liverpool was opened in 1872.

Very interesting article and photos ! A lot of my father’s family worked at T&L. My grandfather’s cousin, James Blake (a Scottish engineer), was sent by Henry Tate to find a site to build the Silvertown Tate Refinery in 1878.

The ‘Fox’ was built in 1881 – and has had various uses throughout the decades.

An especially large continental sugar beet crop in 1882 severely depressed the price of sugar.

Meanwhile in 1883, Abram Lyle started a sugar smelting process at a new refinery he had opened down at Plaistow Wharf on the River Thames – just 1.5miles away from Tate’s factory.

The green and gold Victorian-style design has hardly changed since first produced in 1885 although the tin was made of strong cardboard during the war when metal was in short supply.

In 1887 Henry Tate set up the ‘Tate Institute’ opposite the main entrance to the Silvertown factory.

His donation of 65 contemporary paintings in 1889 became the foundation of what is now the Tate Britain.

In 1903, Sir William Henry Tate, the founder's oldest son, made a significant change in his father's company by taking it public, perhaps because one of his brother's widows wanted to withdraw her share of the investment.

In 1914 the government took control of sugar refining, confiscating the Lyles' supplies of raw sugar and portioning out supplies of all incoming sugar to the country's sugar producers.

The refinery celebrating the nearby King George V dock opening in July 1921.

In 1925 Kielberg moved to London and renamed his company United Molasses.

In 1932, the National Gallery of British Art is renamed Tate Gallery after Henry Tate.

In 1933, national quotas for beet sugar products were established.

1936: The government combines British beet sugar companies into British Sugar Corporation, effectively excluding Tate & Lyle from the domestic beet sugar industry.

1937: Company forms West Indies Sugar Company to buy sugar cane plantations in Jamaica and Trinidad.

In 1939, the Thames Refinery becomes the world’s largest cane sugar factory, producing 14,000 tons a week.

By this time, however, a new crisis was at hand with the opening of hostilities leading to World War II. Sugar rationing began in mid-February 1940 and limited each citizen to 3/4 pounds of sugar a week, later 1/2 pound.

The United States Sugar Act of 1948 set the price of sugar there to protect its own sugar industry.

In 1949 ‘Tate & Lyle’ launched its iconic ‘Mr.

The delivery of a crane in March 1950 was part of a big transformation from bagged to bulk raw sugar, reducing man hours by 70%.

In 1951 the company established Tate & Lyle Technical Services to emphasize research and development.

The company continued to acquire interests in sugar, buying a 50 percent stake in Rhodesian (later Zimbabwe) Sugar Refineries in 1953.

1959: Canada & Dominion Sugar Company (later renamed Redpath Industries) is acquired.

The Henley Arms was built in the early 1960’s and is a typical post-war council estate pub.

And in 1964, the company diversified into a related area when it bought United Molasses.

In 1967, as a member of a European consortium, Tate & Lyle expanded its interests in beet sugar outside of Britain by investing in the Say beet sugar factories in France.

Tate & Lyle’s diversification and expansion abroad proved to be the right course when Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973.

These agreements, embodied in 1975 in the Lomé Convention, completely insulated the EEC from the world price of sugar and tightly controlled sugar trading.

1976: Manbré and Garton, the only other British cane sugar refiner, and Refined Syrups and Sugars, based in the United States, are acquired.

With unprofitable areas of the business gone and a reinvigorated management team in place, Tate & Lyle has moved since 1978 to regain a position of leadership.

Because of the “crisis of overcapacity” since membership in the EEC, the company closed its Liverpool refinery in 1980 to help reestablish a better balance between supply and demand.

Because of the "crisis of overcapacity" since membership in the EEC, the company closed its Liverpool refinery in 1981 to help reestablish a better balance between supply and demand.

After an initial investment in 1983, the Portuguese brands of 'Sidul' and 'Sores' join the group

1985: Several United States beet sugar factories are acquired, forming basis of the Western Sugar Company.

T&L’s aggressive new chairman, Neil Shaw (who took over in 1986 after serving as group managing director), immediately began restructuring the company to fit with Tate & Lyle by selling Staley’s foodservice division.

“London City Airport” was opened in 1987 and is situated close to the Tate & Lyle refinery.

In 1989 Alcântara bought Sores (Sociedade de Refinadores de Santa Iria, SA) and Sidul and Sores merged to form Alcântara Refinarias Açucares, SA.

In April 1991 Stephen Brown was hired by Shaw as group managing director and heir apparent.

In 1992 Larry Pillard was hired away from Staley competitor Cargill, Incorporated to run Staley, and Pillard improved the situation by turning Staley into the lowest cost competitor and by finding additional markets for the company’s products.

In Mexico, Tate & Lyle in 1995 acquired a 49 percent interest in Occidente, the fourth largest sugar group in that nation.

Through his efforts at Staley, Pillard emerged as the new heir apparent to Shaw and was named group chief executive in November 1996.

In June 1998 Shaw retired from his position as chairman after his long tenure of transformative leadership.

In August 2000 Tate & Lyle entered into a joint agreement with Du Pont to develop bio-based polymers.

Further divestments came in 2001, including the sale of the company's interest in Zambia Sugar.

In 2006, Lyle’s Golden Syrup tin is awarded a Guinness World Record as the world’s oldest branding.

We've been making a positive contribution to more than thousands of small-scale sugar farmers in developing countries since 2008.

In December 2014, Tate & Lyle and Gemacom Tech, leading domestically-owned stabiliser business in Brazil, have formed a joint venture called Tate & Lyle Gemacom Tech.

In 2018 the “Tate & Lyle” sugar refinery at Silvertown, celebrated its 140th birthday

"Tate & Lyle PLC ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Encyclopedia.com. (April 16, 2021). https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/tate-lyle-plc-0