Breffits of London "Keep Kool"

Sure hope someone can help with this bottle? I have had it for a few years now, the bottle is 71/4 inches high, has what I think is a blob top?? The side has raised letters and an emblem "G.H.Gaden" Saint John's and the emblem is for Keep Kool soda, the picture is a seal with a fish in it's mouth. This was the parent company of a still operating plant that "still" produces Keep Kool orange soda, but originally the soda came from England to Newfoundland, where I live, the bottom of the bottle, also in raised letters has Breffits London, in the center of these two words are the numbers 7529 and the word Makers with a small design that looks like a cake with a object on top. The amazing thing is that there is still a cork in the bottle. I do have another bottle from the same company, must be years later as the name and emblem on the side are the same, but the bottom has the number 2 and it is machine made to "Metal pop top"?? any help appreciated,

Hello Don,

Welcome to the Forum, and thanks for bringing this Kool bottle to our attention. Could'ya take a photo of the whole bottle, and/or the neck & finish?

Let's start at the bottom. "Breffit, Edgar F., & Company, (approx: 1860-1913),
Castleford, England, Occurs on 4 bottles,
Manufactured beer bottles. Winterbottom & Jessop purchased four acres of land from Lord Houghton and erected the Ryebread Glass Works in 1834. Edgar Breffit bought the business in 1844 and renamed it Breffits Glass Works. By 1868, E. Breffit & Company were listed as proprietors of the Aire and Calder Glass Bottle Works. By 1884, it became a limited liability company. This company was absorbed into the United Glass Bottle Manufacturers, Limited in 1913. The markings are on the base of the bottle." From Sodas & Beers. The 4 bottles that Tod features are 2 Gadens and 2 from K & Co. all of St. John's.

Here's a lovely green Crown Cap Ginger Beer: "84
GH Gaden's Saint John's Newfoundland

Certainly one of the nicer Maritime sodas. This bottle is a great green. It is heavily embossed. This is an early machine-made bottle. Pint size. Dug bottle with some scratching and numerous tiny bruises from burial. Nothing major. Some heavy wear on the lettering. Surprisingly clean glass. 25 40 60

Opening Bid: $25

Estimated Range: $40-60

Sold for $55" From. This was a November, 2007 auction.

Reggie has another E. BREFFIT & Co. bottle in the Codd Hall of Fame: "THE SCARBORO & WHITBY BREWERIES Ltd. CRYSTALIS WATERS / E. BREFFIT & Co. Ld. CASTLEFORD
Nice emerald green Codd." From.

"Charles Renfrew Bell
Charles Renfrew Bell was born in St. John's on December 1, 1901, the son of the Hon. Samuel K. Bell and M. Ellen (Crosbie) Bell. Charlie was educated at Methodist College School in St. John's; King's College School in Windsor, Nova Scotia; Lower Canada College in Montreal; Royal Military College in Kingston; and McGill University in Montreal...

Charlie had other business interests as well. In 1945, he and his cousin, Ches Crosbie, took over Gaden's Limited which had the franchise to bottle Coca Cola and its own line of soft drinks, Keep Kool. The cousins also teamed up with Edgar Hickman whose family owned and operated the Bavarian Brewing Company, bottlers of such products as Jockey Club, Red Label and latterly, Blue Star beers. This partnership went on to enjoy the largest market share of beer and soft drink products in the province until the companies were sold to Labatt Brewing Ltd. in 1962. The three friends at one time were major shareholders and directors of United Towns Electric, the forerunner to today's Newfoundland Power, Newfoundland Telephone Company and Eastern Provincial Airways.

Charlie was also a generous benefactor to the community, most of which he did anonymously.

Charles Renfrew Bell died in 1983 at the age of 82." From.

"Soft drink bottles from St. John's firms found at Ilhavo Park, Left to right: American Aerated Water Co., G.H. Gaden, F.B. Wood, Royal Aerated Water Co. and Union Aerated Water Co." From.

Keep Kool drinks seem to be fondly remembered in St. John's, "We'd spread out our blanket beneath a tree and sit down for a lunch of sandwiches made from our cheap canned meats. We'd have bottles of Keep-Kool orange and lime soda to wash it down, followed by an ice cream cone dessert from the Bungalow canteen." From.

"(He kept, for example, detailed inventories and tasting notes on locally made soft drinks from across Canada, cherishing the vernacular specificity of Brunswick Cream Soda from Edmundston, N.B., or Gadon's Keep Kool from St. John's, over the tidal wave of Coke and Pepsi.)" From.

There's at least one in the Torbay Museum, "8 assorted soda pop bottles, including 7-Up, Coke and Keep Kool, donated by Gerry Hayes of Torbay." From.

Wow, thanks for the history, I will include a full shot of the bottle. As you can see, I am not used to taking shots of bottles, any suggestions on best camera/lens for most detail? Most I see on here are taken outside in natural light, but a little difficult to do that here now, still winter!. I have several shots, but this site allows only one?? Is this correct? I do have a close up of the top with the cork showing, can they be sent to you directly? I am new to this site, still working out the mechanics of the site, appreciate your help though, are you in the U.S.?

Most I see on here are taken outside in natural light, but a little difficult to do that here now, still winter!. I have several shots, but this site allows only one?? Is this correct?

Click to expand...

Hey Don,

Geeze, I hope you get your daylight back soon. It got up to a cool 58 degrees today in my little slice of the Lower 48. Put up as many pictures as you like. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. I like more bottle, less black backround, for two more cents. Bottle guys like to see the neck and finish, the bottom is always good, and embossing highlights, along with any crude and delightful irregularities, bubbles, stretch marks, warts and all. Extra points for misspelling & anything embossed "Cheetos."

Sorry, forgot to attach the picture of the base you already put up in another thread:



So, how'd you come to have these bottles? Have'ya more St. John's antiquities? What else is shakin?

Hey, I was wondering if you have any information of breffit bottle makers, I am a relative of Edgar Breffit, I haven't got any information on them apart from seeing bottles and some information on the man himself.

Cheers
Oli

Hey Oli,

Welcome to the A-BN, and thanks for telling us of your connection to ole Edgar. So what are you to him? Have you done the family tree angle?

There seems to be quite a bit of Breffit's information on the other end of my googler:

"1829 - Mear Glass Bottle Works

The history of the modern Castleford glass industry dates back to 1829 when four glassblowers from Hunslet, Leeds, founded the Mear Glass Bottle Works at Whitwood Mere. In the late 1880's Castleford was reputed to be the largest bottle manufacturing centre in Britain, producing over twenty million bottles annually, mainly for export.

1834 - Aire and Calder Glass Bottle Works

Built by James Winterbottom and Dr. Adam Jessop at Ryebread, off Wheldon Lane their entire output was bought by London merchant Edgar Breffitt. In 1844 Breffitt bought the business and it was renamed Breffitts Glassworks. Edgar Breffitt was the first chairman of the Castleford Local Board of Health, the forerunner to the town council. After experiencing difficulties for three years Breffitts closed in 1926." From Castleford.

Are you nearby Castleford, par chance? I was intrigued to note it was the home of the great Henry Moore.

I'd wanna go here for some original research. [8D]

Here's some history on Breffit's Ferrrybridge works:

"The extent to which the 1860 dispute had an adverse effect upon the tenancy of Greenhow & Co. is conjectural but by 1864 the Ferrybridge works were again standing unused. In that year Edgar Breffit, the leading Yorkshire manufacturer, obtained the leasehold of the Ferrybridge works in order to operate the site as a subsidiary branch of his Castleford works.(54) The acquisition of the Ferrybridge site arose in consequence of an upturn in trade which engendered the expansion of the industry and marked the high point in the prosperity of the container trade early in the following decade. Arising from this phase of industrial expansion, Breffit persuaded William Bagley, then Central Secretary of the Yorkshire Trade Society, to resign his post with the Union and take up the position of manager of the Ferrybridge works.(55)

At the time of Bagley’s appointment the Ferrybridge works consisted of a single reverberatory furnace containing four fire-clay pots or crucibles, providing employment for eight chairs of bottlehands working a two-shift system.(56) The limitations of the cone furnace may be judged by comparison with the regenerative tank furnaces of urban works by the fact that the former required a long, slow process of recharging the pots and melting the batch to produce the metal between shifts, whilst the latter allowed continuous production. Even the ‘day tanks’ which were forerunners of the regenerative furnaces, provided a better economic proposition than the cone furnace crucibles, for although requiring recharging after working out [emptying] the metal, they were of greater capacity than the pots. From this it is obvious that the economic potential of the Ferrybridge site was limited to those periods of cyclical boom when market demand ensured its use in a supplemental productive capacity. The situation appertaining within the container trade from the late 1860s was a singular example of a rising market and at some stage early in the following decade a decision was taken to build a second furnace on the Ferrybridge site. The new furnace consisted of a second brick-built cone of a type which, whilst architecturally compatible with the existing cone furnace was, like its forebear, once long superceded within the Yorkshire region of the industry. The continued erection of cones within the North-East region beyond the mid point of the nineteenth century was quite commonplace, such edifices being built by small firms of limited capital resource. The limited capital requirement, allied to speed of construction and (perhaps) aesthetic considerations arising from the visibility of the site from the Ramsden seat, may furnish the reasons for the decision to build a second furnace of conical design at Ferrybridge.(57)

The new cone was slightly smaller than the existing one both in height and circumference. The precise date of construction is not known but statistical data from the Quarterly Reports of the Glass Bottle Makers Society reveals that an additional bottle house was operational by October, 1872.(58) It is most probable, however, that the increased capacity indicated at that time was occasioned by the establishment of a furnace at Knottingley where William Bagley and his associates had commenced in business as bottle manufacturers, Bagley having resigned from his managerial position at Ferrybridge the previous year in order to commence as a manufacturer.(59) The Ferrybridge works are in fact recorded in terms of their previous maximum capacity early in 1873, which appears to support the supposition that the increase of October, 1872, was due to the start of production at Bagley, Wild & Co.(60) It would therefore seem that the output of the new Ferrybridge furnace is first recorded in the Branch Returns of June, 1873, although the figures for November show an increase of one bottle house which may be an indication that the productive capacity of the new furnace was a staggering operation.(61) The incorporation of data concerning the successful and gradually expanding Knottingley glassworks within the trade returns of the Ferrybridge Branch of which it initially formed a part for the purpose of Union administration, makes at almost impossible to define which of the statistics concerning productive capacity refers to Ferrybridge and which to Knottingley and therefore obscures the date on which the second Ferrybridge furnace became operational.

The second great economic boom in the container trade lasted until 1875. In 1876 a downturn in trade occurred which heralded the beginning of a prolonged period of economic depression. The decline in trade was accompanied by a protracted, albeit somewhat restricted, industrial dispute as some of the Yorkshire manufacturers (surruptitiously supported by others) sought to erode the customary trade practices observed by the artisan glassworkers which had been strengthened during the recent period of flourishing trade, and the Union resisted the attempted assault. The dispute, although intense in nature and carrying implications for working practices and conditions throughout the entire County trade, was confined for the most part to the factories at Conisbrough and Thornhill Lees belonging to Kilner Bros. Simultaneously, the gradual nature of trade decline was such that production continued at the Ferrybridge outpost of Breffit & Co. for several more years. However, by the early 1880s the effect of the recession led to the closure of the Ferrybridge works as Breffit & Co. withdrew from the site to concentrate their production from their Castleford plant. Again the incorporation of statistical material concerning Knottingley glassworks within the Ferrybridge Branch returns makes precise dating difficult but it is evident that the closure of the Ferrybridge works occurred in December, 1883 or January, 1884.(62)

Following the closure, the Ferrybridge works were unused until 1886, at which date the first flint glass hands of the Castleford District of the Flint Glass Makers Society sought to emulate the action of the Bottle Makers Society some thirty years earlier by establishing a union based workers co-operative. Faced with unparalleled levels of unemployment consequent upon the trade recession, the members of the Castleford District of the flint glass trade persuaded the Executive Committee of their trade society to invest £500 of the Society funds to fund the establishment of the co-operative works.(63) As a result, negotiations were undertaken with the Steward of Sir John Ramsden for the lease of the Ferrybridge works recently vacated by Breffit & Co.. The works were described as consisting of two bottle houses [i.e. cone furnaces], each capable of working eight to twelve chairs of flint hands, two pot arches [arches adjacent to the furnace where the fire-clay crucibles were placed to dry out and gradually harden as eventual replacement pots], packing rooms, stables, numerous outbuildings and offices. It was also stated that a large dwelling house together with nine cottages stood on the site.(64)" From.

What have you discovered about Breffit's merchant days in London? There seems to be some response to this post, and then adios A-BN on the new member front. Have you found some of your heritage bottles?

This enthusiastically moulded one is a BIN @eplace:



with this bit of gratis description, "The base is embossed with E B & Co LD / 1886 (Edgar F. Breffit & Company, 1860-1913).

In 1886, the first mechanical bottle device (the "plank machine") was patented for E. Breffit & Company in Ferrybridge, England by H.M. Ashley and Josiah Arnall. The design had been proposed to Edgar Breffit twenty years earlier by Arnall, in 1866. (Breffit died in 1882.) By the 1890s, the glassworks at Castleford were producing hundreds of bottles by machine each day. It would be several more years before the 1905 Owens Bottle Machine was in widespread use on either side of the Atlantic and most bottles began to be machine-made.

-- with thanks to Ron Gosney"

Henry Moore

Wow, cheers for that. I'm from London, England. I've only read biographies about him that's all i know about Edgar Breffit. I must be related to him on my fathers side. I have no information other than i have the same name as him. It's a very unusual name so its likely. I think my grandad must have had information about him. They're seems to be a lot of bottles over in the USA does anyone know why?
Yeah ive tried to do the family history angle but it's very complicated when you don't have much information. I might go to the national archives to seek help. I understand he was quite a wealthy and respected man and wondered where it all went. A lot of Breffits went over to places in the commonwealth such as Canada, Australia and South Africa. To be honest it's quite overwhelming starting from scratch with your family tree.

Why am I in no hurry to click your link?

Why am I in no hurry to click your link?

Click to expand...

Maybe a sales rep for Wheaton but it's at least glass related.[][]
I'll let it sit for now.