I am sure many of your recall this little brown, bulbous shaped bottle. Recently Brian Field dropped the middle sized one into the Museum, adding to our collections. The two smaller bottles are 'Bovril' and the larger one is 'Bonox'.
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The Bovril bottles have 'Made in England' around the edge of the base, and 'FGC' in the centre of the base. According to 'The Society for Historical Archaeology Inc.', this mark was used by Forster Glass Company from 1910 to around 1920. The smaller bottle has one oz embossed on the side, along with the word 'BOVRIL'. The middle bottle has two oz. From 1913 the bottles were made in automatic bottle machines. Notice the tops of the bottle are different. The smaller bottle has a tooled lip, indicating that it was hand finished, whereas thetwo oz bottle has a multi-start thread for a screw lid.
Bovril is a thick, salty meat and yeast extract paste, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnson in the UK and now distributed by Unilever. Dot Wordsworth, in an article in 'The Spectator' states that the name 'Bovril' begins with 'Bo' - which comes for the Latin word Bos meaning ox. 'vril' was a made-up word introduced in the science-fiction novel "The Coming Race', written in 1871 by Bulwer Lytton. Dot Wordsworth writes "The narrator half explains vril as being like electricity, mesmerism, or the odic force (found streaming from the fingertips). Madame Blavastky got very excited by vril.
The third bottle has BONOX embossed vertically down the side. Bonox, which is also a beef extract, was invented by Camron Thomas for Fred Walker and Co. Australia, in 1918. This company also created 'Vegimite'. Walker began a partnership with American businessman James L. Kraft to manufacture processed cheese in 1925, and by 1930 was chairman of Kraft Walker Cheese Co. The Bonox bottle has a single start thread.
I don't know about you, but on a coId winters day, there is nothing better than a nice hot Bonox with fresh white bread torn up and soaking in the cup.
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