Catalogue description MUNTONS PLC, STOWMARKET

Barley purchase ledgers 1955-1968, wheat purchase ledger 1955-1967, malt sales/products books 1958-1986, cash book payments 1952-1986, cash book receipts 1978-1986, horticulture sales 1979-1981, private cash book 1924-1952, M and F main cash book 1972-1990, outward invoice books 1938-1961, inward invoice book 1949-1971, wages books 1965-1971, maltings managers reports 1968-1970, ledgers 1940-1977, wages control books 1974-1986, receipts and payments 1984-1986, petty cash books 1972-1987, wet grains 1975-1980, brewing time and production records 1941-1947, literature and histories 1921-c2000, miscellaneous correspondence 1956-1965, Bridlington Farms Limited private ledger 1972-1989, M and F Bridlington finance reports 1973-1979, Flamborough Maltings 1964-1986, Robert Boby Bury St Edmunds correspondence 1944-1952.

The following records are held by Muntons PLC at Stowmarket: articles of association, Munton & Baker (Bedford) Ltd, Muntona Ltd, Edward Fison Ltd and Munton & Fison Ltd; share certificate books, Muntona (16 vols), Munton & Fison (2 vols); settlement between War Department and Muntona re old silk mills 1956. Munton & Fison: directors' minutes 1955-94; annual returns to Companies House, to 1978; share transfers and correspondence 1971-79; Cedars Maltings deeds and documents. Edward Fison Ltd: annual returns; original share register; miscellaneous documents.

Muntons plc, Stowmarket

• Baker-Munton, Horace
• Baker-Munton, Munton
• Baker-Munton, family
• English, R M
• Fison, Edward
• Kilgour, Robert
• Quinton, D
• Squirrell, C K
• Wells, Charles
• Wells, family
• Bedford, Bedfordshire
• Bildeston, Suffolk
• Bridlington, Yorkshire
• Darsham, Suffolk
• Full Sutton, Yorkshire
• Ipswich, Suffolk
• Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland
• London, England
• Stowmarket, Suffolk
• MALT AND MALTING

The Baker-Munton family had been trading in malt and grain in London since the 19th century; Horace Baker-Munton was a partner in the London malt and barley factors Munton and Baker, and went on to establish a small business importing malt extract from the United States. With increasing demand from the brewing, baking and tonic-food industries after the First World War, Horace's son Munton Baker-Munton saw the need to manufacture malt extract in England instead of importing, and in 1921 established the firm of Munton and Baker (Bedford) Ltd at the old Phoenix Brewery in Bedford owned by the brewers Charles Wells Ltd. The Wells family became (as they still remain) major shareholders. Munton's father Horace became the first company chairman, and remained so until his death in 1947 at the age of ninety. In 1923 the company was renamed Muntona Ltd and, besides manufacturing malt extract, introduced a range of malt products, such as 'Muntona Malted Soap', 'Maltona cattle and horse feed, 'Yeaso' high protein yeast food and 'Renu-glo' starch solvent for laundries. Muntona Ltd grew staeadily in Bedford, and in 1934 acquired the old-established malting firm of Edward Fison Ltd in Ipswich, which had been one of the first British companies to diversify into the production of malt extract for brewers and bakers. The acquisition brought an increase in trade, with turnover passing the £100,000 mark in 1937. However, modernization and the rationalization of the two factories had to await the end of the Second World War. Munton Munton-Baker succeeded his father Horace as chairman in 1947, and in the same year the company purchased the run-down site in Stowmarket then being vacated by British Nylon Spinners. The 46-acre site had buildings with 250,000 square feet of floor space, a deep well water supply, good road and rail connections and the ready availability of good malting barley. There was scope here for expansion and diversification for the foreseeable future. A new malt extract plant and mechanised maltings were opened on the site in 1950 (and further extended in 1959 and 1962). In 1953 the Ipswich premises were closed, followed in 1959 by the closure and sale of the Bedford plant. Meanwhile in 1958 the company had changed its name to Munton and Fison Ltd. Since by now malt production was exceeding the firm's internal requirements, the sale of malt became a priority. The company became pioneers in the sale of malt to Germany, Japan, South America and West Africa. At home, sales to the Scotch whisky distilling industry became increasingly important, and in 1963 Munton and Fison entered into a joint venture with two Scottish distilling companies, Invergordon and Highland Distillers, to build and operate the Flamborough Maltings at Bridlington in Yorkshire. At first, the name of Edward Fison Ltd was revived for the new partnership. The factory was in operation by October 1964. In 1968 Munton and Fison acquired the shares of both distilling partners in the Bridlington maltings, so that Edward Fison Ltd became once again a wholly-owned subsidiary of Munton and Fison Ltd. Meanwhile the business continued to expand at Stowmarket, where a new malt extract plant was commissioned in 1971, and the new Cedar Maltings opened in 1978. Diversification went hand in hand with expansion. In 1977 the firm entered the home brewing market (with Tom Caxton and Brewmaker kits), and, in order to utilise low-grade heat from malting, moved into fish farming, hydroponics and plant micropropagation. There were a series of acquisitions: the malt flour business of Associated British Maltsters in 1988, the corn merchants C. K. Squirrell and Sons of Bildeston and D. Quinton and Sons (also at Stowmarket), pet food manufacturers, in 1991; in 1992 the grain drying and storage facilities of R. M. English and Son Ltd at Full Sutton, Yorkshire; and, in 1997, the seedsmen Simpsons Brothers (Darsham) Ltd and the Robert Kilgour Maltings in Kirkcaldy, Fife. The company was renamed Muntons PLC in 1996.