Thanks and Acknowledgment to Rayner Burgess Limited

On a display card for the Millennium exhibition The Yateley Society thanked the Managing Director of Rayner Burgess Ltd of Edmonton London for providing us with a history of John Burgess & Son Ltd for the exhibition. In 1954 Rayner & Co Ltd acquired the older business started by John Burgess of Brook Farm, Yateley in the 18th century. The text of much of this story has been taken verbatim from the published company history provided to us in a glossy brochure, which included the picture of the original "warehouse" at 107 Strand, used in the display in St Peter's Church.

It was Valerie Kerslake's research into Edward Caswall, the hymn-writer, which revealed to me the Yateley connection with John Burgess, Edward's grandfather. When my wife pointed out, as I researched this exhibition, that I could go to my own pantry and find a modern bottle of Burgess Genuine Anchovy Sauce, still made to John Burgess' original recipe by John Burgess & Son Ltd, I was hugely pleased.

You will see that the company claimed in 2000 that they were the only company still in business which advertised in the very first copy of The Times in 1788. Sadly it seems that Rayner Burgess Ltd was dissolved on 14 Aug 2007, and the Companies House website (May 2008) states that Rayner & Company Limited, incorporated 21 Jan 1913, is in liquidation, and that there is currently a proposal to strike off Rayner Food Group Ltd. I sincerely hope that someone has stepped in to save the John Burgess brand. We have an almost empty bottle of Burgess Genuine Anchovy Sauce in our larder....

I also wish to thank the Odiham Society for providing much of the personal details of the Burgess family in 200o. John Burgess' will was obtained from the Family History Centre, (now, 2008, available on line from The National Archives) although an abridged version is available on the Society's CD-ROM, together with the admissions and surrenders in the manorial court books.

Peter Tipton, June 2000, revised May 2008