I’m often asked what my favourite types of pottery finds are. I have a bit of a thing for Staffordshire Combed Slipware, its yellow and striped colourways reminding me of the decoration on a Mr Kipling Bakewell Tart. (For my North American readers, this is a type of cake available in shops throughout the UK and nothing whatsoever to do with the more derogatory use of the word unfortunately used to describe women.) And anything with a potter’s thumb print visible on the piece will always come home with me, especially those found on Surrey/Hampshire (medieval) whiteware or post medieval redware. But I also have a fondness for modern sherds and anything floral is a keeper too, much to the despair of my ever patient family. ‘What? Another ten pieces of that cracked willow-themed stuff? How much of it do you need?’ I’m not sure everyone at home still fully understands my obsession, even after all these years of me searching the river.
When I first began mudlarking nine years ago, I fell more than a bit in love with sherds of blue on white bone china that I often spotted on the Thames Foreshore. Not to everyone’s taste but there was something attractive about the blue flowers (I later realised were asters) that embellished a particular type of crockery in such a blowsy, confident manner. It was some while before I identified the floral design on these sherds of cups, saucers, plates and other types of table ware as belonging to the famous Express Dairies.
It’s been a pleasure to research my Express Dairies Thames-found pottery sherds as this is a well documented company with a fabulous, extensive and detailed archive including photos, posters, newsletters, recipes for the stressed housewife, in-house magazine and story books for children.
I’ve borrowed a few bits and pieces from the archive for the purpose of writing this little blog but recommend you click on the link below and have a browse through it yourselves. It’s an absolute joy.
https://expressdairytales.uk/history-of-express-dairy
A few weeks ago I spotted a painting on social media. Thinking it was Victorian-era I was surprised to discover it had been painted in 1965 by Peter Colville Horridge Gardner. It’s called ‘Express Dairy’ and shows a horse and milk cart from the dairy on Dawes Road, Fulham. A real portal to a bygone age and I love it because it captures perfectly what this firm stood for.
Express Dairies are a former brand of Dairy Crest, a throwback to decades past when wholesome milk was delivered to your door by a cheery milkman and all was right with the world. They specialised almost entirely in home deliveries of milk and other dairy products.
The company was founded by George Barham in 1864 as the ‘Express County Milk Supply Company’, the name deriving from the days when fresh milk was brought overnight into London by rail – an express locomotive – thereby enabling a speedy and efficient delivery to customers, this reflected in many of the publicity posters produced by the firm.
They had two major creameries and bottling plants in London. The first was located near South Acton railway station on the North London Line, giving access to milk trains from Great Western Railways and Southern Railways. The second was at the company’s HQ in Cricklewood, adjacent to the station. This ensured good railway access for milk trains from London, the Midlands and Scottish Railways. All bases were covered.
And as we’re on the subject of overnight milk trains I have to sneak in a particular milk-related story from my time as a history undergraduate. I’d been to a student gig which ended in the wee late hours – if memory serves it was the doo-wop revivalist group ‘Darts.’ Rita Ray, Griff Fender and manic, wild-eyed, wild-haired Den Hegarty, famous for hit songs such as ‘Daddy Cool’ and ‘The Boy From New York City’ – give them a google if you’re too young to remember. My memory is hazy on the details but after the gig I headed to the station with a friend and we missed our last train home. Somehow we managed to get a lift on a milk train leaving in the early hours of the morning and it dropped us off at Strawberry Hill Depot, from where we were able to get safely back to our beds. I don’t recall if it was an Express Dairies milk train but it did the job and got us home in one piece. I can, however, still remember the bone-shaking rattle of the milk churns.
And who amongst us hasn’t cadged a lift on a late night milk train post gig in order to get home after an evening out? A story to tell the grandchildren one day…
Post war society was changing fast and Express Dairies faced difficult times keeping up with new demands from consumers. The advent of supermarkets created heavy competition and the customer was presented with much greater choice than ever before. To meet this challenge, Express Dairies developed and launched long-life milk thus ensuring its brand and name remained present in customers’ minds. The downside of the march of the supermarket inevitably meant that the desire for home delivered milk began to decline as the supermarkets offered cheaper dairy produce. But somehow the delivery of milk in the early hours survived and still continues. While researching this article late into last night, fuelled by cups of tea and biscuits, I could hear our local milkman purring down the road on his electric milk float, stopping here and there to leave milk on people’s doorsteps. It’s strangely comforting to know this tradition thrives to this day.
Express Dairies was eventually taken over by Dairy Crest in 2006, who sold its deliveries business to Creamline Dairies in July 2013 and its milk processing business to the German firm Müller in December 2015, thus bringing about the end of an era. If you have any personal memories of Express Dairies and milk deliveries please let me know.
As mentioned, I’ve found many sherds of Express Dairies pottery while mudlarking on the Thames Foreshore – fragments from milk pitchers, ceramic jars, cream pots, tea caddies, tea sets including cups and saucers – the stylised blue on white aster popping up brightly from the mud and gravel.
I’m grateful to fellow mudlark Tobias Nehmy Neto for allowing me to share his Express Dairies-related finds from the river. Tobias has found brass buttons featuring the Express Dairies logo, almost certainly from the uniform of a milkman from the company. As with most Thames finds we’ll never know exactly how these got into the river but they look beautiful and open another door to the past of this much-loved firm.
The buttons were made by Firmin & Sons of London. This famous firm has been proudly making buttons since 1655, one of the oldest manufacturing companies in the the UK and indeed the world. From modest and humble beginnings as button makers, the firm expanded rapidly to become designers and suppliers of uniforms, livery badges and buttons (complete uniforms too) serving numerous monarchs, and receiving the Royal Warrant. Now located in Birmingham, they continue to manufacture buttons, badges, uniforms for the military, swords, horse furniture, corporate clothing, livery, medallions and so much more in their factories.
Tobias has found many incredible items in his time mudlarking. I recommend his Instagram account for more details of his finds @tob2n and he has a YouTube channel that’s well worth subscribing to at https://www.youtube.com/user/Tob2n
I’m extremely proud to have been asked to become an ambassador for Thames 21, a charity that campaigns, educates and works with communities to protect rivers, canals, streams, ponds and lakes in London. The Thames itself is one of our great public spaces in the capital and faces enormous challenges in this time of climate emergency and biodiversity loss. Whilst permission is needed to mudlark and detect on the Thames Foreshore (currently permits have been suspended by the Port of London Authority – https://pla.co.uk/thames-foreshore-permits) much of the river is free for people to access and walk on at low tide, though there are some restricted places and obviously care must be taken.
Thames 21 are launching London Rivers Week, 22nd to 30th June, a week long annual campaign inspiring the public to celebrate all of London’s rivers and the many projects taking place to protect them. The aim is to actively connect communities with their local rivers, to care for and protect their blue and green spaces.
This year’s theme is ‘London is a river city’, focusing on health, well-being and culture. Culture and nature have always been intertwined – literature, music, history, archaeology, arts – and rivers and green spaces have provided great inspiration to people across the world.
There are many activities and opportunities for people to get involved – free walks, webinars, talks, river clean-ups. There’s something for everyone; individuals, families and children.
London Rivers Week raises awareness of the capital’s network of rivers, how they benefit us and how we can preserve them. Click on the link below to find out more and register for an activity or event.
Do join in if you can!
https://www.thames21.org.uk/events/category/london-rivers-week-2024/
#Londonriversweek2024 #lrw2024 #londonriversweek24
A Mudlark's Diary 