CRANFIELD BROTHERS LTD OF COLLEGE STREET, IPSWICH, FLOUR MILLERS AND BAKERS

Records re estate of John George Cranfield and incorporation of the Company 1908-1925; memoranda and articles of association 1908-1964; register of members and share ledger 1908-1947; directors' minutes 1908-1956; private cash book/journal 1948-1972; ledgers: nominal 1908-1978, dividends 1908-1963, private 1910-1939, 1948-c. 1971, debenture interest 1942-1971, capital expenditure 1948-1971; balance sheets and profit and loss accounts 1908-1917; financial statements and reports 1922-1971; pension fund records 1916-1977; stock valuations 1939-1977; registers of English and foreign wheat 1964-1998; registers of vessls, freight and cargoes 1962-1981; staff hours and wages records 1909-1979; accident books 1964-1981; schedules of securities and properties etc. 1895-1971; property deeds 1698-1909; papers and correspondence re articles of associatioin, depression in flour-milling trade, agreements etc. 1924-1938; miscellaneous newspaper cuttings, photographs, printed histories, recipes and promotional material c. 1900-1986. Records of subsidiary companies: William Green and Sons Ltd, Brantham: share certificates book 1912-1955; financial statements and reports 1935-1968; agreement and declaration of trust 1938; ledgers 1943-1965. A.A. Gibbons Ltd, Ipswich: share certificate book 1922-1960; private ledgers 1931-1954. Jasper and Sons Ltd, Chatham: minutes 1904-1956; correspondence 1949-1953; annual returns 1954-1958. Banks Breweries Ltd, Harrietsham: ledger 1957-1972.

The business was founded in 1884 by John George Cranfield, a member of a farming family of Buckden in Huntingdonshire, who had first been apprenticed to a local milling firm, Bowyer and Priestley of Offord and Buckden Mill, adjoining the family farm. He obtained further milling experience in the United States, at a large flour mill in Minneapolis. A pioneer in the early days of steel roller milling, he converted a stone mill in Northern Ireland, before setting up in business on his own account in Ipswich, joined by his brother Thomas. The first mill, with a production capacity of eight sacks (one ton) of flour per hour, began running in March 1884. The business prospered and expanded rapidly; it imported wheat from North America and built up its own fleet of lighters to unload the grain and transport it to the mill. Soon the plant of the first building, which was also a warehouse, was increased by the use of the whole building, and new buildings with silo bins were constructed and a ship's elevator added. When it became apparent that the old building no longer sufficed, further land was acquired in 1906 and a completely new building was erected to the rear of the then greatly extended premises, to accommodate more advanced milling plant and machinery. On the death of John George Cranfield the founder in 1908, the business was converted into a private limited company (incorporated 15 December 1908). John George's widow, Mrs Lilian Cowell Cranfield, survived him by nearly fifty years, and remained a Director of the Company until her death in 1955. Samuel Armstrong (a relative of J.G. Cranfield), who had joined the business in 1893, was Manager at the time of the founder's death; he now became the new Company's first Managing Director. He subsequently became Company Chairman, remaining in post until his death in 1959. In about 1911, realising the difficulty of grinding soft wheats upon the same mill as hard wheats, and to secure uniformity of milling, a new mill (known as No. 2 Mill) was erected at the rear of the original mill building, with a capacity of 20 to 25 sacks an hour, and the old mill building was converted partly into wheat storage bins for English wheat and partly into a warehouse, giving a total capacity of 96 sacks an hour. With the advent of the combine harvester and the increased production of English wheat, a new silo, adjoining the large silo erected in 1926, complete with cleaning arrangements and a vacuum drying plant, was erected for English wheat. A vacuum drier, with a drying capacity of 12 1/2 tons per hour, was erected in 1953, greatly improving the milling and storage quality of English wheat through the achievement of a better moisture distribution throughout the grain. Cranfield's block of freehold premises with a covered frontage of some 325ft, situated on the Wet Dock and served by two ship's elevators each of 60 tons per hour capacity, had wheat storage for over 50,000 quarters. With this capacity, and their excellent situation for the purchase of the best native wheats, together with their ability to import at economic prices strong wheats from all parts of the world, the firm came to enjoy a reputation for a high standard of quality. The covered frontage on the Dock, with also a covered yard at the rear, provided excellent loading and unloading facilities in all weather conditions for rail and road traffic. The mills were completely converted to electricity in 1953, and the old boilers, originally used to provide driving power, were turned over to providing steam for wheat drying and heating purposes. The Company expanded, too, by a policy of taking over other businesses. Two local milling companies, William Green and Sons Ltd of Brantham and A.A. Gibbons Ltd of Ipswich, were acquired in 1953 and 1960 respectively. Their mills were subsequently sold and the flour trade absorbed. During the 1930s, modern automated plant bakeries began to replace the many small craftsmen-bakers, a trend that accelerated after the end of the Second World War. Cranfields had already acquired Banks Bakeries Ltd of Harrietsham, Kent, in 1936. Over a ten-year-period from the late 1950s they invested heavily in building up their bakery interests. A subsidiary company, Betabake (Anglia) Ltd, was formed in 1963, and a new bakery in Norwich was opened in 1966. By 1969 the Company had bakeries in Ipswich, Chelmsford, Romford, Gillingham, Hayes and Luton. In 1969 Cranfields began the process of modernising its milling plant (much of it unchanged since 1906); a new plant was opened in March 1970 with further extensions in June and the following January. The modernisation programme was completed in October 1970 with the opening of new offices, laboratory and test bakery at College Street. By 1971 Cranfields was the largest privately-owned independent milling and bakery group, employing a workforce of 2,450 and operating a fleet of about 950 vehicles. In May 1972 Cranfields was acquired by Associated British Foods Ltd. The mill became part of Allied Mills and the Betabake bakeries part of Allied Bakeries. In 1973 the Vitbe manufacturing plant was moved from Crayford Mill in Kent to Cranfields. Despite a continuing modernisation programme, however, the continuing need for heavy capital investment, together with the now limited space for future expansion on the Dockside site, led to the decision in the 1990s to close Cranfields and concentrate investment in the north-west of England. The first departments were closed in October 1998, and business ceased in December 1999.