Condensed Milk Company of Ireland
Encyclopedia
The Condensed Milk Company of Ireland Limited was an Irish
manufacturer of dairy products and, in its heyday, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom
. Its most famous product was Cleeve's Toffee, a popular confectionery
which continued to be sold in Ireland
until the 1980s.
extraction. Cleeve first came to Ireland as a teenager to work for J. P. Evans & Co., a Limerick
-based supplier of agricultural machinery owned by his uncle. Over the next 20 years Cleeve rose to become managing director of this company.
Through his contacts with Irish farmers, Cleeve saw the potential to process milk
and manufacture dairy products for home consumption and export. Together with Edmond Russell,a local businessman, and William Beauchamp, a solicitor, Cleeve acquired Lansdowne, a site on the northern bank of the River Shannon
. There, the partners set up a factory to produce condensed milk
and butter
.
. Branches were established in London
and Liverpool
to facilitate sales into the British market.
By the end of the nineteenth century the Condensed Milk Company had 2,000 employees on its payroll and counted 3,000 farmers as suppliers of its raw material. Its exports reached practically every corner of the British Empire
. The company's brands included "The Cup", "The Calf", "The Goat", "The Shamrock", and "Cleeve's Full Cream Milk". A separate factory in Limerick manufactured Cleeve's Toffee.
Following the death of chairman Sir Thomas Cleeve in 1908, his brother, Frederick, became managing director, with William Beauchamp assuming the position of chairman. Business grew significantly following the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, and employee numbers rose to 3,000. The Condensed Milk Company became a major supplier to British forces fighting in Europe
. It was alleged after the war that company profits reached £1m during this period.
set up three branches in Limerick. Within a year the union had successfully recruited the Cleeve workforce as members. In 1919, the short-lived Limerick Soviet
brought the company's headquarters at Lansdowne to a standstill. Even though normal business resumed at the factory, the stoppage was a turning point in the Cleeves' fortunes. Over the course of the next three years, the company faced an unprecedented array of challenges which threatened the continued viability of the business.
Following the resumption of peace in Europe
, the price of milk fell dramatically affecting company profits. On top of that, the War of Independence
led to considerable damage being inflicted on many of the company's factories and creameries. Some of this damage was caused by Crown forces, despite the Cleeves being staunch Unionists
. Other instances were seemingly the work of Irish Nationalists who saw the Condensed Milk Company as a symbol of British rule. The third challenge faced by the company lay in the radicalisation of sections of its workforce.
For instance, in May 1920 at Knocklong, County Limerick
, the workers decided to escalate a pay dispute by taking over the company's creamery in the town. They hoisted a red flag over the premises and erected a banner across the entrance which read "Knocklong Soviet Creamery, we make butter not profits." The Cleeves conceded defeat after five days and granted retrospective wage increases to the workers. The success of the workers at Knocklong precipitated similar disputes at other Cleeve factories.
By November 1923, the directors decided they could not continue and announced that the company was going into liquidation. Frederick Cleeve had stepped down as managing director several years earlier and was replaced by Sir Thomas Cleeve's son, Francis. The company was bought as a going concern by a syndicate of local businessmen led by Andrew O'Shaughnessy, a member of Dáil Éireann
. Francis Cleeve remained on as managing director for another year to facilitate the transition.
In 1927, the Free State
government established a new semi-state body, the Dairy Disposal Company, to regularise and rationalise the industry. The new body took over the Condensed Milk Company, by far the largest producer in the country, as well as other smaller concerns. The company continued to operate under State control until the early 1970s. At that stage, the government decided to break up the Dairy Disposal Company and transfer ownership of the creameries to a number of farmer co-operatives. In 1974, most of what remained of the Condensed Milk Company was sold to one of these, Golden Vale, subsequently a subsidiary of the Kerry Group
.
The current owners continue to process milk at the Lansdowne factory and its tall chimney remains as one of Limerick's most distinctive landmarks.
The final remnant of the original family business, Cleeve's Toffee, continued until 1985 when the company which had purchased the brand was liquidated.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
manufacturer of dairy products and, in its heyday, the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
. Its most famous product was Cleeve's Toffee, a popular confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
which continued to be sold in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
until the 1980s.
Origins
The business was established in 1883 by Thomas Cleeve, a Canadian of EnglishEnglish people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
extraction. Cleeve first came to Ireland as a teenager to work for J. P. Evans & Co., a Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
-based supplier of agricultural machinery owned by his uncle. Over the next 20 years Cleeve rose to become managing director of this company.
Through his contacts with Irish farmers, Cleeve saw the potential to process milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
and manufacture dairy products for home consumption and export. Together with Edmond Russell,a local businessman, and William Beauchamp, a solicitor, Cleeve acquired Lansdowne, a site on the northern bank of the River Shannon
River Shannon
The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland at . It divides the west of Ireland from the east and south . County Clare, being west of the Shannon but part of the province of Munster, is the major exception...
. There, the partners set up a factory to produce condensed milk
Condensed milk
Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. The two terms, condensed milk and sweetened...
and butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
.
Early Development
In 1889, the business was incorporated as a private limited company. Within ten years 60,000 tins of condensed milk were being produced daily at its Limerick headquarters, with 10,000 cows providing the raw material. As the business expanded, Thomas Cleeve was joined by his four younger brothers who moved from Canada to help manage the company. They set up or acquired a chain of smaller creameries and factories throughout MunsterMunster
Munster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the south of Ireland. In Ancient Ireland, it was one of the fifths ruled by a "king of over-kings" . Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes...
. Branches were established in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to facilitate sales into the British market.
By the end of the nineteenth century the Condensed Milk Company had 2,000 employees on its payroll and counted 3,000 farmers as suppliers of its raw material. Its exports reached practically every corner of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. The company's brands included "The Cup", "The Calf", "The Goat", "The Shamrock", and "Cleeve's Full Cream Milk". A separate factory in Limerick manufactured Cleeve's Toffee.
Following the death of chairman Sir Thomas Cleeve in 1908, his brother, Frederick, became managing director, with William Beauchamp assuming the position of chairman. Business grew significantly following the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, and employee numbers rose to 3,000. The Condensed Milk Company became a major supplier to British forces fighting in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It was alleged after the war that company profits reached £1m during this period.
Industrial and Civil Strife
In 1917, the Irish Transport and General Workers' UnionIrish Transport and General Workers' Union
The Irish Transport and General Workers Union, an Irish trade union, was founded by James Larkin in 1908 as a general union. Initially drawing its membership from branches of the Liverpool-based National Union of Dock Labourers, from which Larkin had been expelled, it grew to include workers in a...
set up three branches in Limerick. Within a year the union had successfully recruited the Cleeve workforce as members. In 1919, the short-lived Limerick Soviet
Limerick Soviet
The Limerick Soviet was a self-declared soviet that existed from 15 to 27 April 1919. At the beginning of the Irish War of Independence, a general strike was organised by the Limerick Trades and Labour Council, as a protest against the British army's declaration of a "Special Military Area" under...
brought the company's headquarters at Lansdowne to a standstill. Even though normal business resumed at the factory, the stoppage was a turning point in the Cleeves' fortunes. Over the course of the next three years, the company faced an unprecedented array of challenges which threatened the continued viability of the business.
Following the resumption of peace in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the price of milk fell dramatically affecting company profits. On top of that, the War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
led to considerable damage being inflicted on many of the company's factories and creameries. Some of this damage was caused by Crown forces, despite the Cleeves being staunch Unionists
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
. Other instances were seemingly the work of Irish Nationalists who saw the Condensed Milk Company as a symbol of British rule. The third challenge faced by the company lay in the radicalisation of sections of its workforce.
For instance, in May 1920 at Knocklong, County Limerick
County Limerick
It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...
, the workers decided to escalate a pay dispute by taking over the company's creamery in the town. They hoisted a red flag over the premises and erected a banner across the entrance which read "Knocklong Soviet Creamery, we make butter not profits." The Cleeves conceded defeat after five days and granted retrospective wage increases to the workers. The success of the workers at Knocklong precipitated similar disputes at other Cleeve factories.
By November 1923, the directors decided they could not continue and announced that the company was going into liquidation. Frederick Cleeve had stepped down as managing director several years earlier and was replaced by Sir Thomas Cleeve's son, Francis. The company was bought as a going concern by a syndicate of local businessmen led by Andrew O'Shaughnessy, a member of Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...
. Francis Cleeve remained on as managing director for another year to facilitate the transition.
Decline
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
government established a new semi-state body, the Dairy Disposal Company, to regularise and rationalise the industry. The new body took over the Condensed Milk Company, by far the largest producer in the country, as well as other smaller concerns. The company continued to operate under State control until the early 1970s. At that stage, the government decided to break up the Dairy Disposal Company and transfer ownership of the creameries to a number of farmer co-operatives. In 1974, most of what remained of the Condensed Milk Company was sold to one of these, Golden Vale, subsequently a subsidiary of the Kerry Group
Kerry Group
Kerry Group , is a public food company headquartered in Ireland. It is quoted on the Dublin ISEQ and London stock exchanges. It evolved initially from a local dairy co-op in the Munster region of Ireland...
.
The current owners continue to process milk at the Lansdowne factory and its tall chimney remains as one of Limerick's most distinctive landmarks.
The final remnant of the original family business, Cleeve's Toffee, continued until 1985 when the company which had purchased the brand was liquidated.
Additional reading and sources
- Patrick Bolger, The Irish co-operative movement, its history and development (Institute of Public Administration, 1977, ISBN 902173758)
- Dr. Frank Brennan, Carrickallen Creamery (2001)
- Jim Bruce, Faithful Servant: A Memoir of Brian Cleeve (Lulu, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84753-064-6)