The Victory Tea Company
Kidderminster
The Victory Tea Company was formed in Kidderminster in 1931 by Ernest Hill, a local man who had earlier been the Leicester representative for the Ceylon Tea Growers Association Ltd. of Nottingham. The business first opened in Sutton Road before moving to a purpose built warehouse and office in Holman Street where tea was blended, packed and stored. Ernie, as he was generally known, also delivered tea, coffee and confectionaries to private customers and businesses throughout Worcestershire and neighbouring counties.
When the company closed in 1965 a large collection of the documents was left in a store room and survived the occupation by subsequent businesses until donated to Bewdley Museum in 2014 and subsequently transferred to the Kidderminster & District Archaeological & Historical Society in February 2015. Some of the documents were in box files in approximate year order but a large number were received thoroughly jumbled in a large plastic bag. All the documents have now been organised into year order and further sorted in various categories: orders for tea, coffee and confectionaries, receipts, invoices, motor expenses, deliveries, connection to local and national businesses, etc.
All prices for tea supplies and other goods found in the documents are, of course, in pre-decimalisation currency. For the record 1 shilling (or 1/- or 1/0d) is equivalent to the present 5p. 1p is worth 2.4d of the old money. So 1/5d has a present value of a small fraction over 7p.
The document collection is presently being used to write story of the Victory Tea Company in Kidderminster. As the story for each year is completed it will be added to the website in instalments which can be accessed by clicking the appropriate link below. A PDF file for all presently available covering all years between 1931 and 1959 is available. Individual years can also be accessed at higher quality.
​
The notes made from original files from which the story has been compiled can also be found via a link at the bottom of the page. They do contain much information that does not appear in the story but do take a lot of reading.
The Victory Tea Company 1931 - 1959
The Victory Tea Company - 1931
The Victory Tea Company - 1932
The Victory Tea Company - 1933
The Victory Tea Company - 1934
The Victory Tea Company - 1935
The Victory Tea Company - 1936
The Victory Tea Company - 1937
The Victory Tea Company - 1938
The Victory Tea Company - 1939
The Victory Tea Company - 1940
The Victory Tea Company - 1941
The Victory Tea Company - 1942
The Victory Tea Company - 1943
The Victory Tea Company - 1944
The Victory Tea Company - 1945
The Victory Tea Company - 1946
The Victory Tea Company - 1947
The Victory Tea Company - 1948
The Victory Tea Company - 1949
The Victory Tea Company - 1950
The Victory Tea Company - 1951
The Victory Tea Company - 1955
The Victory Tea Company - 1956
The Victory Tea Company - 1957
The Victory Tea Company - 1958
The Victory Tea Company - 1959
​
​
As the document collection was studied extensive notes were made. These usually contain much more detail than could be included in the descriptive annual narratives. These notes are collected in the PDF file below.
​
​
​