The story
In the early 1800s, Jeremiah Colman began making mustard at a water mill near Norwich in the village of Bawburgh. To create a tangy flavour, he blended brown mustard (Brassica juncea) with white mustard (Sinapis alba).
Colman founded Colman's of Norwich in 1814, at the Stoke Holy Cross mill on the River Tas, four miles (6.4 km) south of Norwich. In 1823 he took his adopted nephew, James, into the business, which became J. & J. Colman.
In 1851, J. J. Colman took over the business. By 1865, production had transferred to a large factory at Carrow Road on land at Thorpe Hamlet, bought from the Norfolk Railway to the south of Norwich, where the firm operated until the Norwich closure.
From 1855, the firm introduced its distinctive yellow packaging and bull's-head logo. In 1866, it was granted the Royal Warrant as manufacturers of mustard to Queen Victoria.
The Colman family's pioneering achievements in social welfare are part of Norwich's history. In 1857 a school was opened for the employees' children, while in 1864, the firm employed a nurse to help sick members of staff, a social revolution at the time. By 1893, Colman's had employed chemists to check the quality of seed in its mustard mill; this made Colman's one of the first food manufacturers to employ their own scientists.
From 1896, Jeremiah Colman became chairman. In 1903, the firm took over rival mustard maker Keen Robinson & Company, through which it also acquired the Robinsons barley water and baby food business. The purpose of the acquisition was to reduce competition within the mustard business. Under this subsidiary, experiments were done on rats and guinea pigs to test the growth-promoting effects of Almata, a product intended to emulate breast milk. Chemists were employed to promote Almata by providing what they referred to at the time as "medical propaganda".
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Wisbech uniquely held annual mustard markets where the sale of the harvest of 'brown' and 'white' seed took place. Regular annual Buyers included Messrs Colman's. By 1909, the company employed 2,300 people.
Keen's production was moved from London to Norwich in 1925. Together with Reckitt, the company acquired French's, the American mustard manufacturer, in 1926 for £750,000. At one point, as part of the company's Research Department, Britain's first industrial research aviary was established. This held a canary colony to research the effects of irradiated ergosterol, a source of Vitamin D, on their growth. This was on behalf of their pet food subsidiary R. T. French as they looked to purchase patents. Their research indicated that the vitamin had little or no positive effect. However, the colony remained a feature of the Department for product development and testing.
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The Colman's part of the business was demerged in 1995 and Colman's became part of Unilever UK Ltd. In addition to mustard, it applies its name to condiments, sauces and other foodstuffs. Reckitt and Colman engaged in cost-cutting as it prepared to sell the brand, getting rid of the agronomy department, which had looked after plant breeding and seed development.
Colman's maintains links with Norwich. The founding family are commemorated in street names such as Colman Road (part of the A140 inner ring road), on which is situated Colman First and Middle Schools. In addition, the Colman House residence at the University of East Anglia is named after the company and Jeremiah Colman.
From Wikipedia’s article on Colman's, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4