November 1930 saw the following announcement that was to herald further establishment of the food processing industry in Spalding hot on the heels of the sugar beet factory:
“Canning Factory for Spalding
A canning factory, employing possibly 100 men and women will shortly be erected by Wisbech Produce Farmers Ltd, packers of the well-known Smedley brand of fruits, green peas, new potatoes etc.
They have purchased four acres of land from Spalding Urban District Council of the West Marsh Road between the refuse dump and the sewage disposal works.”
The development of Smedleys and its legacy is down to Samuel William Smedley born in 1877. He was originally a fruit and potato merchant saving enough money to travel to America in 1919 to be there for three months and learn methods of fruit preservation, primarily bottling, but also canning. Upon his return he established a bottling business in 1921 concentrating on fruit from the Wisbech area. It was this bottling business that established the Smedleys brand. In 1926 his son Wallace Smedley was sent to America to learn commercial canning techniques. They recognised the importance of tying in production with growers – large processing requires surety of supply to retain viability.
1937 saw Smedleys develop fast frozen food initially primarily for catering as household freezers were not common place until the 1970’s. The quick freezing process was taken over by the Ministry of Food during the War and used primarily to supply freeze-dried products to the forces in that period with Smedleys retaining the core canning business during that period. The Spalding site saw both canning and freezing and was one of 12 sites created and developed by this business.
As with the sugar beet factory, Smedleys had a significant impact. For agriculture it created a market for what were popular canned vegetables of the time to be grown at scale. This included celery, beet, parsnips, carrots, turnips, beans and peas. Smedleys recognised the importance of reliable growers to feed the factory’s production lines and in 1931 undertook contracts with farmers to grow over 1000 acres of peas. By running production lines around the seasons high utilisation of canning factories could be assured with extra seasonal work for shorter lived cropping seasons such as asparagus or peas. It needs to be remembered that up until the 1970’s cans were the primary means of householders procuring vegetables. In the 1930’s it was estimated Smedleys accounted for 60% of British vegetable consumption. You can see from local adverts of the time that they needed to procure local vegetables for the factory and were prepared to engage with growers of all sizes. The canning industry also got around the seasonal gluts that could occur and played a part in smoothing out markets. The importance of canned products came into their own as the deprivations of war came to the fore. Smedleys was in a strong position to supply the nation’s needs. As we entered the 1950’s and 60’s the growth of the employment of women was considerable in the food and horticultural businesses. The change in employment is clear in that era with adverts showing a clear preference to employ women. Commercially women were regarded as cheaper and more stable in an employment market that was favouring the employee.
The size of the firm and its increasing capital requirements saw Smedleys taken over from 1968 onwards. But by this time the legacy of food factories was well established in Spalding and the surrounding area with Greencore, in 2023, occupying a legacy Smedleys site.
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