A Taste of Britain: The Fascinating History of the Murray Mint
The Murray Mint is a classic boiled caramel sweet, flavoured with peppermint and molasses, and it has been much-loved in the United Kingdom for over three quarters of a century. So let's take a look back at the fascinating history of this famous mint sweet.
Murray Mints are named after Robert Stuart Murray, who actually never saw a Murray Mint, as he passed away in 1912, which is 32 years before they went into production!
R. S. Murray was a confectioner from Chicago in Illinois, United States, and he moved to London, England to introduce American caramel candies to the British. He set up a factory in 1882 at Clerkenwell in Central London, after forming a partnership with Walter Michael Price and Charles Hubbard, creating R. S. Murray & Co.
A packet of Murray Mints from the 1960s produced by James Pascall
After Robert Murray died in 1912, Herbert John Norton eventually became the new Managing Director in 1917.
R. S. Murray & Co. was sold to C & E Morton Ltd in 1936, which was a tinned food manufacturer. This led to the closure of the Clerkenwell factory, with production being moved North to the C & E Morton factory near the East coast of England, in Lowestoft, Surrey.
Murray Mints were introduced in 1944, and quickly became a hugely popular British sweet. They were originally sold in green packaging with a bold yellow and black text font for the name
C & E Morton Ltd. was bought out by Beecham in 1945, and was eventually renamed Beecham Foods Limited, ten years later in 1955. Beecham then acquired James Pascall Limited in 1959, merging with the Murray subsidiary.
Murray mints were produced under the James Pascall name during the 1960s (which had a green wrapper with yellow text as shown above) and then Pascall Murray, which was acquired by Cadbury Fry in 1964.
During this time the company's main products were fudge, caramels and mints. During the 1950s, Murray Fruits and Murray Caramels were also sold.
TV Adverts
TV adverts in the 1950s featured the jingle "Too good to hurry mints", which was originally recorded by the vocal group The Stargazers. They had many hit records during the 50s, including three UK No.1's.
During the 1960s, many TV adverts for Murray Mints appeared featuring an amusing mini cartoon. This one (above) is set in a desert fort and includes the aforemetioned song.
In 1977, a TV advert aired in the UK which featured two lazy workmen lying on their backs looking at a broken Murray Mints neon sign - their faces were not shown. They were not going to repair the sign until one of the worker's had finished eating his Murray Mint sweet!
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Who makes Murray Mints today?
The sweet is currently owned and manufactured by Mondelez International, under their Maynards Bassett's brand, which is one of 43 well-known brands owned by the company.
Murray Mints are very much still in production in 2023, and remain a popular product - the latest packaging is shown in the image above. It retains the green and yellow theme, although the colours are certainly less harsh than they were back in the day!
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