In 1886 Hovis bread began with the name of 'Smith's Patent Germ Flour' when the method of steam cooking that preserved wheat germ in bread without destroying its nutrients was perfected. Richard ‘Stoney’ Smith a flour miller from Staffordshire devised a flour, took it to S Fitton & Son, millers of Macclesfield and they registered the patent in 1887. A national competition was launched to find a brand name and it was won by Herbert Grime with his suggested name ‘Hovis’ that was the shortened version of the Latin ‘hominis vis’ - strength of man.

In 1896 Thomas Fitton purchased Imperial Mills on the Embankment, London. (Millbank takes its name from this.) As the business grew so the Hovis Bread Flour Company Ltd was formed. In 1899, when cycling was very popular, thousands of Hovis Cycle Road Maps and Guides were published to advertise the bread and show the teashops where it could be enjoyed. In 1924 the earliest reference to ‘Don’t just say Brown - say Hovis’ first appeared.

From 1928, when Cecil Gordon Wood joined the Hovis board, the company underwent rapid expansion, acquiring several mills at home and overseas and running advertising campaigns that caught the public imagination illustrated by th elikes of Mabel Lucie Attwell, Heath Robinson and Tom Eckersley. By 1931 20,000 bakers were being supplied with Hovis flour and their shop fronts were adorned with a chevron shaped sign bearing the Hovis name in big gold letters.

During WWII the Manchester Mill was destroyed (1940) and the government took control of the company as a national emergency measure. The company sponsored a Spitfire for the RAF called ‘Hominis Vis’. In 1957 Hovis merged with the McDougall Trust to form Hovis McDougall’s Ltd and Rank Hovis McDougall Ltd in 1962. In 1979 control was vested in Rank Hovis Ltd. (McDougalls was responsible for bringing tgether several separate baking enterprises to become British Bakeries.)

In 1973 a classic series of TV commercials were produced with nostalgic images of a baker’s boy pushing his bicycle up the hill to the music of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and the Coronation Street Party, directed by Ridley and Tony Scott.
The 1990s witnessed a period of product development with the introduction of Hovis Cobbles, Hovis Hoolies, Hovis Bolders, Hovis Scones and Hovis Ready-Made Sandwiches. In recent years many styles of premium loaf have been developed including sliced crusty bread, low salt “Best of Health” and various ranges of granary and organic. “The Best of Both”, a white loaf with added wheatgerm introduced in 2001 has appealed widely to childre as has “Hovis Invisible Crust” lauanched in 2005. Hovis remains a household favourite and a well-loved brand throughout the UK.

See: http://www.hovis.co.uk/ 

Archive content

Date range: 1886-present

Scope/Formats

This archive not only contains Hovis advertising and marketing material fom 1886 to the present day but also includes an important photographic collection of early flour mills and distibution transport.