Lyle's Lion
Lyle's Golden Syrup - used by
bakers everywhere and one of the most iconic tins in Britain. Recently I seem to be seeing it in a lot of
interiors magazines - holding candles or plants or being used for storage.
Here's the Greenock
connection - did you know that Abram Lyle (1820-1891) was born in Greenock? In fact, he was a former provost (mayor) of
Greenock in the 1870s. His family were
coopers in the town and Abram went into the shipping business, especially the
importing of sugar from the East and West Indies. He later founded the firm of Abram Lyle &
Sons, sugar refiners. He once owned one
of my favourite buildings in Greenock - the Glebe sugar refinery, which you can
read about here.
Have you ever really looked
at the picture on the tin? It depicts a
dead lion with a swarm of bees around it.
It seems a strange image to adorn a tin of food, but it would appear
that the story behind it comes from the Bible (Judges 14:5-18) and it's a
pretty horrible tale! In the story,
Samson kills a lion, the next time he passes the carcass, a swarm of bees have
made a honeycomb in it. He makes up a
riddle about this "out of the strong, something sweet" - and that's
why it is on the tin! Abram Lyle was a
very religious man. This trade mark was
registered in 1904, although syrup was first put into tins in 1885.
He opened a refinery in
London, not far from that of his business rival, Henry Tate (of Tate Gallery
fame). The two companies were joined in
1921 after both men were dead. Thus we
have the company of Tate & Lyle, which had a refinery in Greenock until the
1980s.
So, the next time you open a
tin of syrup or treacle, just remember the story of the logo and the Greenock
connection!
Love, Liz
Comments
Those tins are everywhere this year - MsBridgewater is charging vast amounts of money for cans in that style of tin!!
Hope you're having a good day.
Rose H
Bee happy x
Thanks so much for sharing the story behind it..I found it very interesting :)
Magie x
I was oh so tickled pink by this post today. I enjoy reading about interesting details that I would never know otherwise. These tins have always caught my eye, so I'm not surprised by their recent upsurge in usage for home decor. We usually only see them in specialty or import stores, here in the States, not usually available at the local grocers...too bad!
Hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Maureen
Love from Mum
xx
June
Anne xx
Thank you for sharing and enjoy your new week.
x
Have a good week,
xx