Mazawattee Tea Company facts for kids
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| Founded | 1887 |
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| Headquarters | UK |
| Products | Tea |
The Mazawattee Tea Company was a very important and well-known tea company in Britain during the late 1800s. It was started in 1887 by the Densham family. Tea drinking began in China, and fast "Tea Clipper" ships brought tea to London. By the 1700s, tea was popular, especially for wealthy people in Britain.
After 1850, tea farms grew in India (like in Assam) and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This made tea much more available. The Densham family was a big part of this growth. They moved from Plymouth to London and quickly made a lot of money from their tea business. They later owned beautiful homes in Purley and Croydon. Edward Densham, one of the founder's sons, became well-known in Purley.
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The Rise of Tea Drinking in Britain
By the early 1700s, tea drinking was a popular social event in Britain. People would gather to drink tea, as mentioned by writers like Alexander Pope. London had many "tea gardens" where people enjoyed tea. A poem from 1775 described drinking tea on summer afternoons at places like Bagnigge Wells.
Tea imports to Britain grew a lot. In the 1830s, about 30 million pounds of tea came in each year. This jumped to 80 million pounds in the 1860s and 200 million pounds in the 1890s! Older companies like Twinings grew, and new ones like Hornimans started around 1840.
The Densham Family's Start in Tea
John Boon Densham, who was a chemist in Plymouth, came to London. Back then, chemists often mixed and sold teas. He was a strict Baptist and likely supported the Temperance movement, which encouraged people to drink tea instead of alcohol.
In 1865, he started as a tea wholesaler, selling large amounts of tea to shops. He moved to London in his 50s to focus only on wholesale tea. His first company was Lees & Densham. By 1873, it became Densham & Sons. John Boon Densham, almost 60, owned it with his three oldest sons: Edward, Alfred, and Benjamin. Edward later took on the main leadership role.
John Lane Densham Joins the Business
The company grew steadily. Things changed when the youngest son, John Lane Densham, joined in 1881. He was in his late 20s. He had been unwell before, but once he joined, he became a key leader. He traveled a lot for the company, and his brothers soon relied on his hard work.
A simple idea changed the tea industry: packaging tea. In 1826, John Horniman started packaging tea. This meant customers could buy a trusted brand and not just rely on what the grocer scooped from a big tea chest. Soon, machines helped pack tea faster.
The Denshams saw that packaged tea was the future for selling to regular people. In 1884, they offered their first packets of Ceylon tea. Other companies like the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Brooke Bond, and Liptons also started selling packaged tea. However, it took until the early 1900s for packet tea sales to be more popular than loose tea.
How Mazawattee Tea Began
John Boon Densham died in 1886 at age 72. This marked the end of the first period of the company's growth. John Lane Densham immediately became a partner. He decided to sell their tea in packets and create a special name for the company.
John Lane Densham loved advertising. He thought an unusual name would be best. He went to the Guildhall Library to find ideas. He came up with "Mazathawattee." This name might have come from the Hindi word "maza," meaning "pleasure or fun," and the Sinhalese word "wattee," meaning "a garden." He shortened it to "Mazawattee." The name was officially registered in January 1887.
The Famous "Old Folks at Home" Picture
John Lane Densham then had the idea of using a standard photo to advertise the brand. This photo became very popular. It showed an older grandmother with glasses and her granddaughter, holding a cup of tea. The photographer was M.B. Parkinson from New York City. The grandmother was Mary Ann Clarke, and the child was Alice Emma Nichols, a neighbor's girl, because the original granddaughter was too shy. The picture was called "Old Folks at Home."
Mazawattee's Growth and Advertising
Soon, the Mazawattee name was everywhere. The company stressed the high quality of its tea. They made a deal with railway companies to put bright, eye-catching signs on every railway station platform in Britain.
Mazawattee focused on Ceylon tea, which had been introduced to Britain in 1875. For a while, the company even called itself the Mazawattee Ceylon Tea Company. High-quality teas, especially hand-picked leaf buds called "Golden Tips," sold for high prices.
The Densham & Sons company still handled loose tea. But by 1894, Mazawattee had its own offices and warehouses in a huge building near the Tower of London. This building was so tall it blocked the view from the nearby church, All Hallows by the Tower. The Mazawattee building was a great spot to watch big events, like the opening of Tower Bridge in 1894.
In May 1896, the company became a public limited company, called The Mazawattee Tea Company Ltd. This meant it could sell shares to the public. John Lane Densham soon became the chairman.
Challenges After 1900
After 1900, the company faced problems. Tea prices went up, partly because of a tax increase to help pay for the Boer War (1899–1902). There were also strikes and political issues. John Lane Densham kept traveling the world for the company, even with health problems. He visited tea farms in India and Ceylon.
However, sales started to drop. So, the company decided to try selling cocoa and chocolate. This was a risky move. They bought a huge piece of land near New Cross and built a massive factory to process and pack products. It opened in 1901. The factory was very impressive, designed to be efficient, and almost 2,000 people worked there. It even had a separate department for making and printing tin cans.
Creative Advertising and New Products
The company continued its creative advertising. In 1902, to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII, they gave out small, round, coin-like tins with chocolate inside. These might have been souvenirs for children.
Another special item for the coronation was a beautiful booklet designed by William Theodore Parkes. It showed the words and music of the National Anthem with fancy designs. This booklet linked tea with royalty. Mazawattee also made many other lovely tins, often celebrating events. They even produced other items like spices, cake flavorings, and a hair tonic!
Trouble with Retail Shops
More problems arose. Sales declined, and the cocoa business wasn't as successful as hoped. In 1902, John Lane's health worsened, and he had to go abroad, handing over management to others. While away, he arranged for tea to be sent directly from farms to Russia, America, and British Colonies.
Back home, two directors decided to open Mazawattee retail shops, like cafes that also sold packaged tea. They opened many shops very quickly, without proper control. These shops were fancy, with colorful tiles and lots of mahogany wood. One shop alone cost a lot of money.
These new shops caused problems with older grocery stores nearby. John Lane Densham was urgently asked to return home to fix the situation. In March 1906, he called a meeting and fired the two managing directors. Benjamin Densham resigned as chairman. A year later, Benjamin was also dismissed.
After this, the company agreed to spend more on special advertising. They produced many attractive items, including calendars, diaries, atlases, dictionaries, and decorative tins, often designed by famous artists. They even made a small card game called "Our Kings and Queens," which is now sought after by collectors.
After World War I
After World War I, the tax on tea increased. John Lane Densham resigned as chairman in 1915 due to his failing health. He died in 1918 while abroad. The company lost a very important leader.
Alexander Jackson became the new chairman. The company continued to create fun advertisements. One famous idea was using a small team of tame zebras to pull a Mazawattee delivery van, especially in the Tunbridge Wells area.
When Alexander Jackson died in 1933, his eldest son, Joseph Alexander Densham, became chairman. However, the company's chocolate and cocoa department had to close in 1936.
World War II caused huge damage to the company. In late 1940, the Tower Hill building was bombed and destroyed. The New Cross factory was also heavily bombed and mostly ruined. The business struggled under Joseph Alexander Densham until he retired in 1953. The company was then sold. The Mazawattee name was used for a short time, but the tea was packed by other big tea companies. Soon, the Mazawattee brand disappeared.
Densham Family Homes
The Densham family owned many homes, especially in Croydon and Purley. John Boon Densham, the founder, lived in Croydon at "Mannamead" (now 17 Birdhurst Road). He died there in 1886.
Edward Densham, who ran the company for many years, lived in Purley. In 1885, he bought a grand house called "Foxley" with a large estate. He was a respected local figure, serving on the Croydon Rural District Council and as a Justice of the Peace (J.P.). He helped bring electricity to Croydon. Many of his sons went to Whitgift School. Edward used some of his land to build new homes for his children. Edward died in 1912.
Other family members, like Alfred and Benjamin Densham, also lived in Croydon and Purley, moving to different large houses as they became more successful. John Lane Densham lived in magnificent homes like "Waldronhyrst," which needed a staff of ten people to run it.
What Remains Today
The impressive Mazawattee building at Tower Hill was destroyed by bombing. However, its cellars remain as "Tower Vaults," a small underground shopping area. The church of All Hallows by the Tower was also rebuilt and now has its original view.
At New Cross, the factory was almost completely destroyed by bombing, but some parts still stand. You can see the words "Elizabeth Industrial Estate" on a small tower from trains. This tower was part of the factory's boiler system. The old Grand Surrey Canal, which was next to the factory, is now a road. Some parts of the old Mazawattee factory entrance from the canal side can still be seen.
Of John Boon Densham's homes, only "Mannamead" (17 Birdhurst Road) remains. Edward's grand "Foxley" house was demolished around 1968, but new flats and houses there still use the name "Foxley Hall." Many of his sons' houses in Higher Drive still stand and are well-maintained. Only "Tresco" is gone, replaced by a street called Densham Drive. A large wooded area of the estate was saved from development and is now public land.
Some of Alfred's and Benjamin's homes still exist, while others have been replaced. John Lane Densham's "Deanfield" is still there in St Peter's Road. His magnificent "Waldronhyrst" was a hotel for many years but was demolished in the 1970s.
A poem by William Cowper reminds us of the peaceful, earlier days of tea drinking in the 1700s:
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
So let us welcome peaceful ev’ning in.
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
Image gallery
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Grandmother and Granddaughter
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Zebra Cart
Fun Facts About Mazawattee Tea
- In the 1940 film Gaslight, you can see a horse-drawn bus with a large advertisement for Mazawattee Tea.
- On the cover of Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, one of the storefronts has a Mazawattee Tea sign.
- In 2010, the Mirror newspaper wrote about a 69-year-old unopened tin of Mazawattee tea found in someone's home in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
- Comedian Stuart Ashen, who likes old packaged foods, showed a Mazawattee chocolate disc from 1902 (King Edward VII's coronation) in a YouTube video. The chocolate had changed color and texture, but the message inside the tin was still clear. He did not eat it!
- An old photo (around 1910) of a grocery store in Gloucester shows "DELICIOUS MAZAWATTEE TEA" written on the display window. This shows how important the brand was back then.
- In the 1987 film Withnail & I, a round vintage tin of Mazawattee Tea is visible on a shelf in Uncle Monty's cottage.
- In a special edition of The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, there's graffiti that says "Mazawattee Mead for Night Starvation." This is a funny reference to old ads for Horlicks Malted Milk.
- Mazawattee Tea is mentioned in a poem by Mbali Bilikai about Nelson Mandela.
- In the 1934 film Of Human Bondage, Leslie Howard walks past a Mazawattee Tea room.
