Here at Price’s Candles, we have a proud heritage. We’ve been producing long lasting candles ever since our company was founded in 1830. Whilst the world of candles has changed immensely since then, our promise to produce high quality, exquisitely scented candles remains just the same as it once did. Here’s our story...
1830 – William Wilson and Benjamin Lancaster create Edward Price and Co. and purchase the patent for the separation of coconut fats. They develop this technology for use in candle making, to produce a harder, pure white fat known as stearine. This composite candle is discovered to give a brighter, cleaner light than the commonly used tallow, and is less expensive than beeswax. The partners build a candle factory at Vauxhall on the Thames in South West London, a crushing mill just up river at Battersea, and invest in 1,000 acres of coconut plantation in Sri Lanka.
1840 – In London on February 20th, Price’s new stearine ‘composite’ candles are supplied, in the form of ‘Sherwood’ dinner candles, for the wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. The company begins to grow rapidly thanks to Wilson’s stearine wax. This brings alternative employment to many African countries, currently at the centre of the increasingly disfavoured slave trade, giving the company huge popularity for being an ethically and politically correct manufacturer.
1849 – Two years after changing the company name from Edward Price and Co to Price’s Patent Candle Company, the company acquires a London nightlight manufacturer and the production of Price’s Candles nightlights begin.
1850 – Having developed their Sherwood candles for the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840, Price’s Candles had an ongoing Royal connection. In 1850 the company is awarded the Royal Warrant as candlemakers to Her Majesty The Queen and begins supplying candles for all Royal state occasions – coronations, weddings, lyings-in-state and funerals. The first state occasion for which Price’s Candles supplied following the Royal Warrant accreditation, was the funeral of the Duke of Wellington, who died in 1852.
1853 –Wilson starts looking at the logistics of their manufacturing process. Liverpool is the port of entry for all West African goods; the imported palm oil is to be unloaded there and loaded for transfer by boat to London. This is expensive and time consuming; the logical solution is to have a factory in Liverpool. The new Bromborough Pool factory allows Price’s Candles to more than double its imports of palm oil to 50,000 tons per year.
1854 – Price’s Candles import large quantities of newly discovered crude petroleum from Burma, to develop paraffin wax candles. This paraffin wax is found to have a high melt point, making it technically the best wax for candle production. By experimentation, Price’s Candles are able to create various grades of cleaner, higher quality paraffin wax, which is still used in candle production within the company to this day.
1858 –For the workers at the Liverpool factory at Bromborough Pool, Price’s Candles build a village of 147 houses with a church, institute, shop and library for its workforce. This model village, the first in England, becomes an inspiration to other employers and is copied by such companies as Cadbury’s, with their Bourneville village in the 1890’s.
1865 – By now, Price’s Candles hold 114 patents for different candle manufacturing inventions, as well as working many other patents under licence.
1900 –Price’s Candles is now the largest candle manufacturer in the world, producing 130 differently named and specified sizes of candle, any one of which can be manufactured in 60 different permutations of material, colour and hardness, compared to 1870, when the company had only manufactured eighteen different shapes or sizes.
1910 – Price’s Candles acquires its first overseas factory in Johannesburg and by 1915 the company owns six factories in South Africa, Shanghai and Chile. They go on to construct factories in Rhodesia, Morocco, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Price's famously supply Captain Scott's final expedition to the South Pole with 2,300lb of Belmont Stearine candles, some of which are eaten by Captain Scott and his team as a source of fatty nutrition.
1947 – Price’s Candles proudly supply candles for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Phillip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey. The ceremony is recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio to 200 million people around the world.
1951 – Having already diversified into the production of soaps and lubricants, Price’s Candles dominate the early part of the 20th century with their motor oils, Huile De Luxe and Motorine, used by car royalty, Rolls Royce. In 1951 the company goes on to develop the very first multigrade oil, Energol, at their Battersea factory.
1953 – Majestic, tall white candles are handcrafted for The Queen’s coronation. At 11.15am on 2nd June, Queen Elizabeth becomes the 39th Sovereign to be crowned at Westminster Abbey. The service, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, is the first Royal service to be televised, with over 27 million people in the UK watching the BBC coverage.
1965 – As Royal Warrant holders, Price’s Candles are commissioned to produce and supply monumental candles for the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill. Attendees at the ceremony, held on 30th January at St Paul’s Cathedral, come from around the globe to pay their respects. TV and radio coverage reaches up to 900 million people worldwide.
1981 – Billed as the ‘wedding of the century’, on Wednesday 29th July at 11.20 am, Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer are married at St Paul’s Cathedral, in front of 3,500 guests from across the world. Followed by an estimated global TV audience of 1 billion people, the Royal wedding is another proud moment for Price’s Candles in their continued involvement with the British Royal Family.
2003 – Following the sale of the company in 1991, Price’s Candles is once again privately owned. Battersea, once one of the largest candle factories in the world at over 11 acres, is no longer suitable for the modern age of the candle industry and production is relocated to a state of the art factory in Turin, Italy. Complete with two laboratories and advanced technologies, it allows Price’s Candles to continue to develop and produce the highest quality and most innovative candles. Price’s Candles retains its UK heritage with its head office based in Bedford managing all product development, sales and distribution.
2004 – Price’s Candles relaunch their innovative ‘Fresh Air Odour Eliminating’ range of candles and reed diffusers. This range, containing OdourfoylTM technology, boosts the company, once again, to the forefront of the candle industry for offering unique products and continuing Price’s Candles historical research and involvement in the evolution of the humble candle.
2014 – In order to to remain at the top of the industry, Price’s Candles develop and launch their Signature Range, comprising of outstanding, sophisticated candles and diffusers across 14 stunning fragrances. Designing beautiful, timeless packaging, including branded silver lids, which compliments the quality and contemporary look of the Price’s Candles brand, each fragrance is carefully developed towards future trends in home fragrance design.
2018 - Price’s Candles now have over 12 different collections, and manufacture candles of multiple shapes and sizes with a variety of burn times. Following intricate planning and design, the company proudly launch their brand new ‘Fragrance Collection’, featuring reed diffusers alongside an array of candle sizes, including the contemporary large jar. This new collection offers a vast range of scents across the five fragrance families of woody, floral, fresh, fruity and sweet.
2019 - The company continue to expand their offering, by introducing two fresh new fragrances for summer into the historic Heritage Range. In addition, the new-look Sherwood candle packaging is revealed to the market. The iconic candle, which has been supplied to the Royal Household since the 1840’s, reverted back to the historical 10 pack, rather than the triangle-shaped container of 3 candles.
