In 1921 the merger of two family-run sugar refiners, both founded in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th cen-

tury, saw Tate & Lyle become one of the world’s leading processors of sugar (from both cane and beet), cereal sweeteners and starches.

In the early 1990s Tate & Lyle entered the Australian sugar industry – Bundaberg Sugar was secured in mid-1991 in a hos-tile takeover. Within a decade a decline in world sugar prices saw Tate & Lyle divest-ing itself of underperforming assets. Dur-ing the second half of 2000, Bundaberg was sold to Belgium-based Société Finan-ciere des Sucres Tate & Lyle reentered the Australian industry in 2007 with the open-ing of a new sales office.

Tate & Lyle is now a global company currently operating more than 50 pro-

duction facilities throughout Europe, the Americas and South East Asia and em-ploying around 6500 people in its subsidi-aries and joint ventures.

This companies success was built on the hard work and ambition of two not to be ignored personalities in sugar.

Sir Henry Tate – the sugar baronHenry Tate was born in Liverpool in

1819, the seventh son of a Unitarian cler-gyman. At age 13, he was apprenticed to his older brother Caleb, a grocer, and at 20 he set out on his own. By age 36, he owned a chain of six grocery shops and began to look for other profitable ventures. In 1859 Tate became a partner in John Wright & Co sugar refinery and began to learn about sugar.

The sugar business at the time was bur-geoning in Great Britain, where decreasing prices led to a steady increase in consump-tion. New uses were being developed for sugars – including jams, condensed milk,

and desserts – which made it a staple on British tables.

In 1869, Tate, a man who liked to be his own boss, dissolved his partnership with Wright and, with sons Alfred and Ed-win, formed Henry Tate & Sons. He be-gan building his new refinery in Liverpool in 1870.

It was Henry Tate that introduced the sugar cube to the UK. In the 1870s, he was in a partnership that purchased the patent from German Eugen Langen on a method of making sugar cubes (prior to this it was made in loaves which needed to broken into smaller pieces). In 1872 he built a new refinery in Liverpool.

By 1878, the business had grown so much that Tate opened a second refinery

April–May 2009 Australian Sugarcane — 15

BeHind tHe SceneSPERSONALITIES IN AUSTRALIAN SUGAR

Henry Tate and Abraham Lyle — Sweet success for the sugar barons

The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science ® and Velpar® K4™ Xtruded™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of DuPont or its af filiates. H&T DP1248/S.

One hard worker in sugarcane recognises another.

DP1248_Strip_Ad_v3.indd 1 10/8/07 11:42:03 AM

Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (March 11, 1819 – December 5, 1899). Baronet Henry Tate.

Abraham Lyle was Provost of Greenock from 1876 to 1879.

…16s

16 — Australian Sugarcane April–May 2009

on the Thames, which specialised in mak-ing sugar cubes using the process devel-oped on the continent. His 250 employees at that refinery worked 60-hour weeks in 12-hour shifts.

Tate rapidly became a millionaire, and donated generously to charity. In 1889 he donated his collection of 65 contemporary

paintings to the government, on the condition that they be displayed in a suitable gal-lery, toward the construction of which he also do-nated £80,000.

The National Gallery of British Art, better known

as the Tate Gallery, was opened on July 21, 1897, on the site of the old Millbank Prison. Henry Tate was a modest rather retiring man, well known for his concern with workers’ conditions. He refused a knighthood more than once until – after he had spent over £100,000 to build the Mill-bank Gallery, endowed it with his personal collection, and presented it to the nation – he was told the Royal Family would be offended if he refused again.

Tate was made a baronet in 1898, the year before his death. He lived at Park Hill by Streatham Common, south London, and is buried in nearby West Norwood Cemetery, the gates of which are located opposite a public library that he endowed.

In 1921, after Tate’s death, Henry Tate & Sons merged with Abram Lyle & Sons to form Tate & Lyle.

If Henry Tate was successful in sugar, that was not true of all sugar producers, most of them family firms like his own. At the end of the 18th century, about 120 sugar refiners in Great Britain had supplied the growing need for sugar. By 1882, that number had been reduced to 26, and there were only 16 by 1900. But the changing business climate for sugar producers did not deter Abram Lyle III.

Abram Lyle (1820–1891)He was born in the seaport of Greenock

in Scotland, and at twelve years old became an apprentice in a lawyer’s office. He then joined his father’s cooperage businesses and in partnership with a friend, John Kerr, developed a shipping business, making the Lyle fleet one of the largest in Greenock. The area was heavily involved in the sugar trade with the West Indies, and his business included transporting sugar.

The story goes that he got into the sugar processing business when he accepted a cargo of sugar in lieu of payment and had to find something to do with it.

Together with four partners he pur-chased the Glebe Sugar Refinery in 1865, and so added sugar refining to his other business interests. When John Kerr, the principal partner, died in 1872, Lyle sold his shares and began the search for a site for a new refinery.

Together with his three sons he bought two wharves at Plaistow in East London in 1881 to construct a refinery for produc-ing Golden Syrup. The site happened to be only a few kilometres from the sugar refinery of his rival, Henry Tate. Although both their refineries were on the Thames, Henry Tate and Abram Lyle never met. But the two firms seem to have had a tacit

ALWAYS REFER TO THE PRODUCT LABEL BEFORE USE.©Copyright 2007 DuPont (Australia) Ltd. All rights reserved. 168 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060. ABN 59 000 716 469. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science® and Velpar® K4™ Xtruded™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of DuPont or its af filiates. H&T DP1248.

Because DuPont™ Velpar® K4™ effectively controls hard-to-kill

weeds for up to 100 days between sprays, sugarcane farmers can

get on with other jobs around the farm. Of course, this ultimately

adds up to a handy saving in labour costs.

It takes care of weeds, so you can take care of business.

New Xtruded™ formulationLow dust, more soluble

DP1248_VelparK4_v5.indd 1 10/8/07 11:41:41 AM

Prior to Tate’s introduction of the sugar cube sugar was moulded into loaves which needed to broken into smaller pieces.

w15…TATE & LYLE

understanding – Lyle never produced sugar cubes and Tate never produced syrup.

Lyle got off to a rocky start. An especially large continental sugar beet crop in 1882 severely depressed the price of sugar. At the same time, the cost of construction for his refinery soared well over the estimates. Lyle was forced to adopt severe personal measures, including taking his children out of school, to get his fledgling business off the ground.

In the first year Lyle’s refinery showed a loss of £30,000, with economies be-ing made by asking staff to wait for their wages on occasion, but eventually the busi-ness came to dominate the United King-dom market. Lyle’s policy at his Plaistow Wharf refinery was to produce a few types of sugar as cheaply as possible. He specialised in Golden Syrup, a low-price sugar product designed to resemble honey (packaging that highlighted a bee motif en-hanced the identification). It was said that the poor of the industrialised cities of Eng-land lived on bread and cheap sugar prod-ucts such as Golden Syrup and treacle.

Sweet successThe famous design that adorns tins of

Lyle’s Golden Syrup has been named by the Guinness World Records as the world’s

oldest branding. The distinctive packaging has hardly changed since 1885.

Everyone knew that the sugar cane re-fining process produced a treacly syrup, but it was canny Lyle who discovered this by-product could be refined to make a sweet spread and sweetener for cooking. This syrup was poured into wooden casks and Lyle sold it to his workers and local customers. Word spread fast and in a few short months, a tonne a week was being sold.

Wooden casks soon gave way to large Lyle’s Golden Syrup dispensers being dis-played on the shelves of grocery stores. Lyle’s Golden Syrup was first poured into tins in 1885.

Abram Lyle had strong religious beliefs, which is why the tin features a quotation from the Bible: “Out of the strong came

forth sweetness”. But no-one knows why Abram chose that particular line – was he referring to the tin holding the syrup; or the company producing it?

The syrup tins were certainly strong. Explorer Captain Scott took some on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition in 1910. In 1956 one of the cans was discovered by explorers with the syrup inside still in good condition.

The mergerWhen Lyle died in 1891, he left his sons

firmly in charge of his business, as Tate did when he died eight years later. In 1918, Ernest Tate, the son of Henry Tate’s old-est son William, approached second-gen-eration brothers Charles and Robert Lyle about combining the two firms. The two companies became Tate & Lyle in 1921, with Charles Lyle as the first chairman, to be succeeded by Ernest Tate. n

ALWAYS REFER TO THE PRODUCT LABEL BEFORE USE.©Copyright 2007 DuPont (Australia) Ltd. All rights reserved. 168 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060. ABN 59 000 716 469. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont™, The miracles of science® and Velpar® K4™ Xtruded™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of DuPont or its af filiates. H&T DP1248.

Because DuPont™ Velpar® K4™ effectively controls hard-to-kill

weeds for up to 100 days between sprays, sugarcane farmers can

get on with other jobs around the farm. Of course, this ultimately

adds up to a handy saving in labour costs.

It takes care of weeds, so you can take care of business.

New Xtruded™ formulationLow dust, more soluble

DP1248_VelparK4_v5.indd 1 10/8/07 11:41:41 AM

The Lyle’s Golden Syrup tin design has been named by the Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest branding. The distinctive packaging has hardly changed since 1885.

Tate’s London mansion.

April–May 2009 Australian Sugarcane — 17