Interactive Timeline
Welcome to our interactive timeline, presenting a journey through the remarkable history of the Rowntree family and their enduring legacy. The timeline is continuously being updated and evolving.
1801 Joseph Rowntree (Sr) is born
On the 10th June in 1801 Joseph Rowntree Senior was born. Joseph Rowntree is the youngest child of John and Elzabeth (nee Lotherignthon) Rowntree. He was raised in a Quaker household, in Scarborough, with his five siblings William, John, Hannah, Elizabeth and Jane. He was not directly involved in the Rowntree Company, but he was an actively philanthropic individual, like many of his descendants.
1807 Sarah Stephenson is born
On 23rd January in 1807, Sarah Stephenson was born. Sarah will join the Rowntree family, through her marriage to Joseph (Sr), and becomes the mother to five children, including Joseph Jr. She was also the youngest child to Quaker parents, in Middlesborough. She, like her future husband, was also very philanthropic in nature and would go to help poor families in York.
1822 Joseph Rowntree Sr buys premises on Pavement
Joseph Rowntree Sr buys premises on Pavement.
1823 Bootham School
Joseph Rowntree (Senior) and Samuel Tuke found the first private Quaker boys school in York (later known as Bootham School).
1824 Flourishing New Business
Building on his 10 years of experience, working for his grocer father in Scarborough, Joseph Rowntree (Senior)‘s new business begins to flourish.
1825 Colony of Friedensthal Expansion
Expansion of the Quaker colony of Friedensthal, Germany, where the Seebohm family originates.
1826 Pavement Home
Joseph Rowntree (Senior) lives above the shop with his sister Elizabeth.
1827 Pavement Apprentices
Long working hours for the apprentices at the Rowntree Grocery business on Pavement, 6 days a week, from 6.00 am to 8.00 pm.
1828 The Beginning of a Master Grocer
Strict economy, fastidiousness, small expenditure on self, mark the first years of Joseph Rowntree (Senior’s) life as a master grocer.
1829 John Ford
John Ford becomes Superintendent of the ‘Yorkshire Quarterly Meeting Boys’ School’ (Bootham School).
1830 York's Population Growth
York’s population expands rapidly, due to immigration from Ireland and the growth of the railway industry.
1831 The Mount School
The ‘York Friends’ Girls’ School’ – is founded in Castlegate. It relocates to its current location in Dalton Terrace in 1856 and is renamed “The Mount School“.
1832 Joseph Rowntree joins the York Board of Health
Along with Samuel Tuke and George Hudson. The Board of Health was an unofficial and self-funded body. The year prior, a report on the health of York’s citizens had revealed that ‘some forty families in Micklegate’ weren’t able to afford adequate bedding or clothing.
1833 Thomas Craven
Thomas Craven arrives in York as a 16 year old apprentice to work with his brother-in-law Thomas Hide at his confectionery business.
1834 John Stephenson Rowntree is born
John Stephenson Rowntree is born, eldest son to Joseph and Sarah.
1835 Elizabeth Hotham is born.
Elizabeth Hotham is born. She later marries John Stephenson Rowntree, and becomes the mother of Arnold Rowntree.
1836 Joseph Rowntree is born.
Joseph Rowntree is born at Pavement in York 24 May: he is the second of Joseph Rowntree Senior’s three sons.
1837 George Hudson ‘The Railway King’ becomes Mayor of York.
George Hudson ‘The Railway King’ becomes Mayor of York.
1838 Henry Isaac Rowntree is born
Henry Isaac Rowntree is born – the youngest of Joseph Rowntree Senior’s sons, and founder of the confectionery company.
1839 George Cadbury is born
George Cadbury is born.
1840 Charles Booth is born
Charles Booth is born. Philanthropist and social researcher, he will advise Seebohm Rowntree on his study of Poverty in York.
1840 Hannah Rowntree is born
Hannah offered a great deal of support to her brother Joseph (Jr), when his first wife died. DOB: 29th December 1840.
1841 Julia Seebohm is born
Julia Seebohm is born. She will become Joseph Rowntree’s first wife.
1843 Sarah Jane Rowntree is born
The youngest of Joseph and Sarah’s children tragically died of whooping cough at only three years old.
1844 Joshua Rowntree is born
Joshua Rowntree is born, later to become mayor and Liberal MP for Scarborough.
1845 Hunger in York
Joseph Rowntree (Senior) takes the lead in establishing York’s soup kitchen, which opened every winter in premises near Black Horse Passage.
1845 August Claude Gaget is born
A French confectioner who introduced gums and pastilles into the Rowntree production line, a key strategic move for the company, as these proved some of their most successful products.
1846 Antoinette Rowntree is born
Antoinette (Tonie) Seebohm is born in Hamburg. She will become Joseph Rowntree’s second wife.
1847 Banking Crisis
1848 First Day School Founded
A ‘First Day’ or Sunday morning school for boys aged between 8 and 15 is started in Hope Street.
1850 Joseph witnesses the Irish Famine
The young Joseph Rowntree visits Ireland with his father, brother and John Ford. They see the starvation and destitution caused by the Famine. This trip makes a lasting impression on Joseph.
1850 Harriet Selina Osbourne is born
Harriet Selina Osbourne was not born into a Quaker family, instead she was baptised in the name of the Church of England. She went on to marry Henry Isaac, and only after did she join the Society of Friends.
1851 The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition held in London. New rail links enable York citizens for the first time to travel with comparative ease.
1852 Clifton Lodge House
Clifton Lodge is built. This is the house where Joseph Rowntree lives towards the end of his life.
1854 Henry Isaac is sent to Grove House School
Henry Isaac is sent for a year to Grove House School, Tottenham (a school for ‘the sons of the Society of Friends’.)
1856 Apprentice at the Pavement shop
Henry Isaac becomes an apprentice at his father’s Pavement shop.
1857 Love is in the air
Joseph meets Julia Seebohm at her family home in Hitchin.
1860 Public bathing encouraged in York
The ‘Old Yearsley Bathing Place’ is constructed in 1860 on the River Foss, a short distance below Yearsley Bridge. The bed of the river is cemented for a space of 100 yards, and Dressing Sheds erected. The total cost is about £300 and admission is free. In due course, this will be redesigned by Fred Rowntree to become the Yearsley Swimming Pool still much-used in York.
1861 Fred Rowntree is born
Fred Rowntree, who will become a prolific architect in the Arts & Crafts School, is born in Scarborough.
1862 The Rowntrees get involved in cocoa
Henry Isaac Rowntree acquires a cocoa business from the Quaker Tuke family.
1863 Tragedy for young Joseph
Julia Elizabeth Rowntree dies – probably of meningitis – a few months after the birth of her first child, ‘Lilley’. Lilley doesn’t thrive and dies soon after her mother, leaving Joseph a grieving widower and father.
1864 H. I. Rowntree moves to a larger site
Henry Isaac moves the firm of ‘H. I. Rowntree’ to Tanner’s Moat. The site Henry Isacc buys is next to York’s River Ouse. It consists of an old iron foundry, with several cottages and a tavern.
1866 Prize winning cocoa
Henry Isaac’s ‘rock cocoa’ wins one of the 113 medals awarded at the Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition, held in York. Thereafter, it is sold as ‘Prize Medal Rock Cocoa’. It becomes a staple at the Cocoa Works in its early years.
1867 Henry Isaac becomes a city councillor of York
Henry Isaac becomes chairman of the Micklegate Liberal Association and a city councillor in York, a position he holds from 1867-70. In 1868, he starts a weekly newspaper, The Yorkshire Express. It is intended to further the cause of radical Liberalism and is printed at the Tanners Moat factory.
1868 Henry Isaac marries
Henry Isaac Rowntree marries Harriet Selina Osborn in February, at Scarborough Registry Office. At this point she is neither a Member of, nor an Attender at, a Meeting for Worship of the Society of Friends, but she becomes a Quaker in due course.
1869 Joseph to the rescue
Joseph Rowntree Jnr hands the thriving Pavement business to his elder brother, John. This allows him to bring his much-needed capital to shore up his younger brother, Henry Isaac‘s, small cocoa business. The name is changed to H. I. Rowntree and Co Ltd. Joseph later describes the financial state of the company in 1869 as “hopelessly embarrassed.”
1870 Joseph's family grows
Agnes Julia Rowntree (2nd child of Joseph and Toni Rowntree) is born and in 1871, Benjamin Seebohm follows. The family grows rapidly with the birth of Stephen in 1875, Oscar in 1879 and is complete with the birth of Winifred in 1884.
1874 Early Struggles
Despite all the hard work, H.I. Rowntree & Co Ltd makes a loss of £544 – a substantial amount in 1873. The business is not unsound but the partnership continues to be burdened by a significant bank overdraft and several mortgages.
1879 The secret of gum manufacture is cracked
A Frenchman, Claude Gaget, introduces Henry Isaac and brother Joseph to the technique of manufacturing Crystalized Gum Pastilles. This opens the way to the development of Fruit Pastilles and Fruit Gums which are to become bulwarks of the company’s future prosperity.
1881 Pastilles prove popular
Crystallised Gum Pastilles are successfully brought to market. These new sweets prove to be very popular and their success introduces a period of financial stability for the company.
1882 Beans means success
1883 Henry Isaac dies young
Henry Isaac dies of peritonitis, aged 45, leaving his elder brother Joseph to develop the firm and ensure its fortunes.
1884 Debts defeated
H.I. Rowntree & Co Ltd begins to move into profit. After a trading loss of £329 in 1883, the situation improves steadily thereafter.
1885 Success is shared
Joseph Rowntree starts a library for employees in 1885 by donating £10 of his own money, raising £10 from another source, and docking a penny a week from workers’ pay. JR – as he prefers to be known by staff at the Cocoa Works – believes it to be important for people to use their leisure time in a positive and creative way. The development of a staff library is a first step in the creation of an array of clubs and societies to support staff in their education and general well-being.
1886 A family business
John Wilhelm on his 21st birthday enters the Cocoa Works as a partner at a time of rapid expansion for the company. All four of Joseph Rowntree’s sons will become directors of the company in due course, as will their cousins Arnold and Frank.
1887 Technical innovation encourages growth
Needing to keep up with his Birmingham rival, George Cadbury, Joseph acquires the technology for pressing the fat out of the cocoa bean. This leads to the creation of Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa. The number of employees between 1883 and 1894 rises from 200 to 894.
1889 Seebohm joins the company
Seebohm joins the firm as a partner on his 18th birthday. Building on the commitment to scientific principles learnt at Owen’s College, he lays the foundations for the first chemistry department at the Cocoa Works.
1890 Full steam ahead
The first of many locomotives used on Rowntree’s private railway is bought on 20th December from Hudswell Clarke.The locomotive is second hand and is called ‘Marshall”.
1891 Reaching out to a wider market
Arnold Rowntree begins his career at the Cocoa Works. His bold imaginative flair leads to startling experiments, such as on Boat Race day when a huge mechanical swan draws a barge up the Thames with an outsize tin promoting Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa. Arnold’s attachment to the company extends to its products – he is affectionately known by the family as ‘Chocolate Jumbo’.
1892 Data about poverty published
Charles Booth’s ‘Life and Labour of the People of London’ in 9 volumes is published between 1892 and 1897. Booth’s evidence makes plain that poverty is wider-spread than has been generally accepted. Not all British citizens have enjoyed the fruits of economic success. His books’ impact is immediate and debate about the causes of poverty intensifies.
1893 Frank Rowntree joins the company
Frank Rowntree joins Rowntrees in the Engineering Department, following technical training at Joseph Baker and sons. Like his father, Henry Isaac Rowntree, Frank thrives on mechanical and practical challenges on the factory floor.
1895 Quaker Renaissance
John Wilhelm Rowntree plays a major part in the ‘Quaker Renaissance’ and travels to Jerusalem, via Italy. He meets Rufus M. Jones two years later, in Switzerland. Jones is a towering figure in the history of Quakerism, professor of philosophy and editor of the American Friend. He and John Wilhelm establish a deep and long lasting friendship.
1896 Growing their own
John Wilhelm fears that rivals like Cadbury and other companies from America or Germany will gain too much control over supplies of cocoa. Frank Rowntree and J. Bowes Morrell make a long trip to the West Indies, to investigate the possibility of establishing cocoa plantations.
1898 Rapid expansion
The Rowntree business has become a limited company and opens an export department. John Wilhelm envisions the company becoming a multinational enterprise with its own plantations and branches overseas. Soon, it is selling its products in Australia and New Zealand.
1899 Is alcohol evil?
Joseph Rowntree writes “The Temperance Problem and Social Reform.” With other Quakers, he is deeply concerned about the difficulties that dependence on alcohol can cause. His book goes into 9 editions and draws on his talent for collecting and explaining data about social issues.
1899 Acquiring land on the island of Dominica
In 1899, John Wilhelm Rowntree, the eldest son of Quaker chocolate manufacturer Joseph Rowntree and one of Rowntree & Co’s managing directors, wrote a letter to the Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West Indies. He advised them of the company’s intention to acquire land on the island of Dominica. Their aim, he said, was “to bring English energy and scientific knowledge to bear upon tropical culture”.
1900 Rowntree’s was operating several estates in Dominica and in Jamaica
By 1900, Rowntree’s was operating several estates in Dominica and in Jamaica. Many of these were former slave plantations, and the company adapted sugar mills and other infrastructure to cultivate and prepare cocoa, limes, bananas, and other raw ingredients for shipping to the Cocoa Works factory on Haxby Road, York.
1901 Seebohm Rowntree’s book on poverty makes an impression
Seebohm Rowntree, Joseph’s son, follows his father’s footsteps with his interest in poverty, public health and social questions. This is at a time well before the modern welfare state had been created. His book ‘Poverty: a Study of Town Life’, is a milestone in early sociology and statistical analysis. He calculates a standard minimum income for people to be able to live a decent comfortable life, and shows that many people who live in poverty can’t easily help their situation.
1902 Work begins on New Earswick model village
Building begins on New Earswick model village to improve workers’ living conditions. A whole village is created on the outskirts of York, not far from the new factory complex.
1904 Joseph Rowntree sets up three trusts
Joseph Rowntree puts much of his entire wealth into three trusts, intended to enhance different aspects of his thinking – and capacity to act – on social problems, such as the alleviation of poverty, changes in housing conditions, education and political reform. These trusts still exist today, and they still apply the ideas of their founder to problems of society today.
The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust An offshoot of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and sharing the same trustees, it was formed in 1968 to address housing questions.
1904 Rowntree’s Jamaican estates were the largest exporters of cocoa on the island
In 1904, over 300 black labourers (likely descendants of slaves) and 100 East Indian labourers (likely as part of the indentured servitude system) in total worked on the Caribbean plantations, overseen by 9 white managers. By the outbreak of the First World War, Rowntree’s Jamaican estates were the largest exporters of cocoa on the island, shipping exclusively to the United Kingdom. However, the company faced significant challenges in the region, including wartime restrictions on imports and severe hurricanes which decimated crops and buildings on its land.
1906 A new factory is built
A state-of-the-art factory is completed at Haxby Road to accommodate 4000 employees. It has Fruit and Gum blocks, a Cake Moulding block, and Store and Packing Rooms. It will be served by a special railway line. There are also extensive dining and welfare facilities, and a gymnasium.
1907 The Nation newspaper is founded
The Nation – weekly newspaper is founded by a group of Liberals – of which Arnold was one. They are concerned that the media predominately expresses Conservative, and conservative, ideas.
1908 York’s branch of the Fabian Society is founded
Frank Rowntree founds the York branch of the Fabian Society – which continues to flourish.
1909 Yearsley swimming pool opens
The New Yearsley Baths are opened on May 4th. Originally the company baths, Joseph Rowntree made it a condition of his gift that admission should be free. The new baths were designed by Fred Rowntree.
1910 Arnold Rowntree becomes MP for York
Arnold Rowntree is elected Liberal MP for York and remains in this position until the general election of December 1918. Although a deeply committed constituency MP, Arnold’s support of Conscientious Objectors during the War is not popular and he loses his seat in the 1918 “khaki election”.
1912 New Earswick School opens
New Earswick School is formally opened in 1912 by Walter Runciman, a Minister in David Lloyd George’s government.The school’s pioneering design is spacious, light and airy. Its curriculum is based on the belief that reading at an early age offers the best opportunity for children to learn for themselves. Perhaps most innovatively, boys and girls are taught the same subjects.
1914 The Cocoa Works welcomes fighting men
1000 men of 8th Battalion the West Yorkshire Regiment is quartered in the Dining Block of the Cocoa Works. When they leave in 1915, Joseph Rowntree writes to their commanding officer to say that “very pleasant and cordial” relations had existed between all concerned. Rowntree’s make tins of chocolate for the Mayor of York, John Bowes Morell, and the Sheriff, Oscar Rowntree – to send to all serving soldiers from York.
1915 Lloyd George seeks Seebohm’s help
Seebohm serves as Director of the newly-established Welfare Department at the Ministry of Munitions, and works on the implementation of the principles of ‘scientific management’ in the munitions factories. He is appointed to the Reconstruction Committee in 1916 where Beatrice Webb describes him ‘invaluable’.
1916 Works Councils are established
Works Councils (with both staff & management representatives) are set up at the Cocoa Works. A branch of the National Union of General Workers is formally established at the Cocoa Works in 1917.
1917 Death at Passchendaele
Lawrence Rowntree, having recovered from wounds received during the Battle of the Somme, is killed in action in November. He is 22 years old.
1919 Michael Rowntree is born
Arnold and May Rowntree welcome the birth of Michael, who will go on to become a successful journalist, director of the Friends Provident Life office, and vice chair of the Oxfordshire Area Health Authority. Also a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
1921 Rowntree park is opened
Rowntree Park is presented to the people of York by the Rowntree company.
1922 Seebohm continues to publish
Industrial Unrest is published and in 1923, The Human Factor in Business goes into its 3rd edition. Seebohm’s reputation as an expert in the new ‘science‘ of management is established.
1923 Seebohm Rowntree becomes Chairman
Having been with the company for over 30 years, Seebohm becomes Chairman of Rowntree and Co Ltd. Trading conditions are difficult. Rowntree is losing market share, primarily to Cadbury. Rising costs and falling profits lead to the company seeking economies in many of its of its departments, including cuts in staff numbers.
1925 Joseph Rowntree dies
The death of Joseph Rowntree. 2,000 people line the streets of York and fill the Cocoa Works on the day of his funeral.
1926 The General Strike
As Chairman, Seebohm writes in the Cocoa Works Magazine that “…. labour and management can never co-operate wholeheartedly unless each has a sympathetic understanding of the other’s .. problems.” In 1923, he makes his recognition of the need for cooperation clear in the same journal. He says, “…we appreciate the open-minded.. attitude of the National Union of General Workers..with which we are chiefly concerned..” Rowntree and Co Ltd avoid the worst aspects of the widespread industrial unrest of the late 1920s. To find out more, see here
1928 The Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library opens
The Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library (planned after Joseph’s death) is opened on May 24 (the late Joseph Rowntree’s birthday). It will house over 10,000 books.
1929 The Wall Street Crash
Stock exchanges across the world collapse, taking economies with them. By 1930, 2 million men in Britain are registered unemployed. The Cocoa Works Magazine of December that year includes a letter from Seebohm Rowntree, in which he makes clear he understands how workers are being affected: “I know how much there is to discourage..we face a 10th winter of unemployment..” Poor market conditions mean that even some Rowntrees’ staff are put on short-time working.
1930 George Harris introduces the famous brands
A range of famous brands is introduced, under the direction of George Harris, including Black Magic, KitKat, Aero, Dairy Box, Smarties, and Polo Mints. They show how well brand marketing can contribute towards the growth of an enterprise.
1931 Seebohm becomes a Companion of Honour
Seebohm is made a Companion of Honour by George V in the latter’s Birthday Honours. The honour is given in recognition of Seebohm’s contribution to ‘social services.’
1933 Seebohm warns that peace is fragile
In the December edition of the Cocoa Works Magazine, Seebohm warns Rowntree staff, “If the nations drift into another great war,.. it will be just because the common people like ourselves have been too apathetic, self-absorbed, too indolent to veto .. all that makes for war.”
1933 Black Magic introduced
1935 The Joseph Rowntree Theatre opens
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre opens in November. At first it is known as the Joseph Rowntree Hall, but this soon changes. Peter Rowntree becomes one of the Trustees of the firm responsible for the Theatre’s construction and spends much time and care in making it one of the most up-to-date small theatres in the country. It remains a valuable part of York’s cultural life to this day.
1937 Chocolate beans changed to Smarties
1938 Jean Rowntree
Jean Rowntree – sister to Lawrence – works in Prague, to help Jews, social democrats and others in danger from the Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland.
1939 National Service
The Joseph Rowntree Theatre is taken over by the military authorities as a billet for troops. By November 1939, 457 staff have left the Cocoa Works to become involved in various kinds of national service.
1940 Jean Rowntree
Jean Rowntree – sister to Lawrence – works in Prague, to help Jews, social democrats and others in danger from the Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland.
1941 World War 2 breaks out
Factory output diminishes, as Uboat attacks on merchant shipping seriously limit the supply of imported goods. Sugar and cocoa become hard to access. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Churchill wants to avoid rationing sweets, as he feels it will lower citizen morale. Despite his best intentions, confectionery
1941 Winston Churchill disapproves of sweet rationing
Factory output diminishes, as Uboat attacks on merchant shipping seriously limit the supply of imported goods. Sugar and cocoa become hard to access. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Churchill wants to avoid rationing sweets, as he feels it will lower citizen morale. Despite his best intentions, confectionery is rationed from 1942, and will not finally come “off ration” until 1953.
1942 Kenneth becomes a War Artist
Kenneth Rowntree becomes one of more than 60 British artists commissioned by the government (financed by the Pilgrim Trust) to record the face of England and Wales before wartime destruction changes it beyond recognition.
1942 York is bombed
1944 The Cocoa Works becomes ‘County Industries’
As the tide of WW2 turns, the Cocoa Works is very much part of the war effort. The office block on Haxby Road has been requisitioned by the Royal Army Pay Corps & the Cream Department is reconfigured for the production of munitions, dried egg and Ryvita. The Gum Department is converted into a secret fuse factory, named ‘County Industries’. It employs over 900 staff, who work 12 hour shifts, filling fuses with TNT. This is dangerous work but fortunately there are relatively few accidents.
1945 Haverford House
Haverford House which had been the home of Frank Rowntree and his family, is leased to the YHA – & is subsequently sold to them.
1947 Dunollie House opens
Dunollie House opens officially in 1947, to provide a sanctuary for those suffering with stress and ill health. The respite offered by this comfortable house in Scarborough is remembered with great affection by many who stayed there, though over time the strict routines become less popular and some folk “got fed up with being told what to do”.
1950 A changed world?
The last of Seebohm’s investigations into poverty is published. The introduction of family allowances in 1946, the NHS in 1948 – along with the raft of other legislation introduced to fulfil the promises of the Beveridge Report – is transforming many aspects of life for people in the UK.
1951 The Aero girls are introduced
Another example of Rowntree’s imaginative advertising is seen in the 1950s, when a series of pictures are commissioned, to advertise Aero, in print and on television.
1952 Michael Rowntree & Oxfam
1954 Seebohm Rowntree dies
Seebohm Rowntree dies at his home in Hughenden Manor, Buckinghamshire, formerly the home of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli.
1955 Don’t forget the fruit gums, Mum!
Rowntrees commissions its first TV advert, which goes out in November, advertising Fruit Gums. It is just one more innovation in marketing Rowntrees’ products. Both Henry and Arnold have prepared the ground, but George Harris becomes the strongest advocate of the value of advertising the Rowntree brand. He is company Chairman from 1941 to 1952 and oversees the company’s recovery after WW2.
1957 A new factory opens near Newcastle
Labour shortages in York lead to a subsidiary works being set up in Fawdon, 3 miles from Newcastle. Railway links allow goods to be transported efficiently and quickly between it and the Cocoa Works in York. By summer 1958 all fruit gum, pastille and jelly production has been transferred to Fawdon.
1959 Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust
The Joseph Rowntree Village Trust’s name is changed to the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust and its powers are widened to enable it to support research into housing and social questions.
1960 The Trusts contribute to the foundation of the University of York
1961 Rivalry between English confectioners
Rowntree sees rapid growth in demand and the development of new markets across the globe. The largest confectionery companies in England had a tradition of close trade cooperation – the ‘Five Firms’ and ‘Three Firms’ Conferences had included Cadbury, Rowntree and Fry since their inception. However, new legislation to prevent restrictive practices leads Rowntree to reassess their value. Economies of scale enable larger firms to see sustained growth as mass consumption increases during the 1950s, whereas smaller confectionery companies struggle.
1962 After Eights
‘After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins’- known more commonly as just ‘After Eights‘ – are introduced and prove to be immediately successful.
1964 Powerful retailers change market conditions
The bargaining power of grocery supermarkets impacts Rowntree and distribution plans include new ideas, such as introducing multipacks of KitKat.
1969 A merger and the FTSE 100
The company merges with John Mackintosh & Sons (makers of Rolo, Munchies, Toffee Crips, Quality Street) to form Rowntree Mackintosh Ltd. For a period it became a constituent of the FTSE 100 index.
1988 Company sold to Nestlé
Nestlé SA acquires Rowntree plc, and the company is renamed Nestlé Rowntree, to become a division of Nestlé UK Ltd. It continues to produce many of the original brand products.
2000 Joseph Rowntree man of the millennium
Joseph Rowntree is voted ‘Man of the Millennium’ by the citizens of York.
2004 The Rowntree Society
The Rowntree Society is set up as a charity with a mission to further knowledge about the very rich Rowntree legacy.
2012 Joseph Rowntree is still loved in York
Joseph Rowntree is the winner of the special ‘Community Pride’ awards, as the man who has done most for pride in York during the city’s 800th celebration since the granting of a royal charter in 1212.
2019 KitKat goes from strength to strength
Six million KitKats a day are produced at the York Nestlé factory. More than 1 billion KitKats are consumed in the UK each year. A year’s production would stretch around the London Underground 350 times.