A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works (1906) - extract

Without Peek Frean & Co. we would never have had the Garibaldi, the Bourbon or the Twiglet. The Clements Road factory gave Bermondsey the pet name 'Biscuit Town' until its closure in 1989. This extract is from a film by Cricks & Sharp, commissioned by the company to mark its 50th anniversary, and is now considered one of the earliest British documentaries.
All titles on the BFI Films channel are preserved in the vast collections of the BFI National Archive. To find out more about the Archive visit www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collect...

[@sanguine9331]

It's so helpful to see this because my grandaunt Olive was listed as "biscuit packer" on the 1911 Census in England and lived next to Bermondsey in Rotherhithe. I noticed on the Peek Frean & Co. museum website there was a 1911 "Bermondsey Uprising" where women workers went on strike for higher pay and abolition of short shifts.

[@britainluver431]

This is a BEAUTIFUL piece of history. It is crazy to think how much things have changed in the past 109 years since this film.

[@theinfotime3614]

I m working in peakfreans biscuits company but today I m seen old biscuits manufacture prosess I m so excited in this time 15 thousand biscuits manufacture in 1 mint

[@kaugusta1]

So interesting. At 36 seconds, I thought he was going to have a "Lucy and Ethel" moment with the dough backing up...So much hard work performed there.

[@Magnetron33]

Speedy and perfectly symetrical

[@WikiMartino]

Very interesting to see how industrial processes have changed. The lack of safety equipment and clothing, the child labor and the sheer number of workers stands out. Also a reminder of the devastation which was to come: most of the young boys and men in this film would later became cannon fodder in WW1, which started a few years after this film. Many would not have survived. This was not the "good old days".

[@wayinfront1]

'A few years' - in fact 8 years. J.B.Priestley who was 11 when this film was made, wrote of the Edwardian period being one long golden summer. Yes, many of the boys and men we see in the film may have died in WW1. But so did many of their sons and daughters in WW2. And descendants in further wars, Korean, Falklands, and innumerable small conflicts in the old Empire and elsewhere. And then there are diseases, illnesses, accidents, you name it. Humans are never free from war, illness, accident, suffering and eventually death. But that Edwardian period is nonetheless rightly remembered for its particular qualities that certainly qualify it as being 'the good old days', if ever there was such a time. My mother, born in the year this film was made, certainly remembered the years before WW1 as a golden time.

[@elizabethshaw734]

This company still makes biscuits today and they have been available in United States for a very long time.

[@jackofswords7]

In spite of all the machines and "mechanical" aids, it was still very labour intensive.

[@MerleOberon]

For 1906 it looks like pretty advanced machinery. the supervisor on the first side seems to always want to get in the scene. It must have been a fairly good job to have, at least it was a clean workplace.

[@blazer2100]

This was 112 years ago hard to get you're head round it my grandad wasn't even born yet

[@91Redmist]

My grandfather was just being born. Lucky for him, he was too late for the slaughter of WW1, too early for WW2...

[@momof2momof2]

My grandfather would have been 8 yrs old :)

[@drServitis]

@@91Redmist Your grandfather would have been 33 when WW2 began. That's prime soldiering age.

[@geraldineekhator5428]

My dad’s mother Josephine was 4 years old when this was filmed.

[@SoulMakk]

Incredible glimpse into the distant past.

[@downhill240]

Excellent film!

[@1justice2012]

Amazing!

[@davidpactor5446]

i was doing some research on a Peak Frean metal sign in my collection and got linked to this youtube piece. fascinating.

[@neilboyd]

Interesting to see the use of child labour in the UK as part of a well coordinated workforce. It's easy to forget how much has changed in a relatively short time.

[@bigloo609]

Whenever I watch one of these old silent films, I open up KZbin in another window and play some Scott Joplin ragtime piano for background music.

[@drServitis]

I usually open a video with sound of a modern cookie making factory and listen to it while watching the silent video.

[@sagarhits.4087]

It is the real history of biscuits industry appreciable good film archive .... nice work to up lode on YT

[@robharding5345]

That's amazing footage.The titanic was still only a dream at that time. I can still remember Peak Frean's biscuits in the early 60's in my local corner shop,they looked so tasty in their Glass fronted containers.🥰🥰🥰

[@dennis8196]

I wonder if the BFI have any video's from when the town of Reading was the town to be for biscuits - Huntley and Palmers practically owned Reading.

[@lilactreehouse]

Must have smelled great with cookies baking in there..

[@alanm5939]

It did -when the wind was blowing the right way. I went to school literally next door to Peak Freans in the early 1970s and the smell of shortcake biscuits was divine. Unfortunately, when the wind blew the other way we got the vile smells of Sarson's Vinegar factory, a few streets away.

[@momof2momof2]

If we dressed today the way these women are dressed, we'd think we were dressed up :)

[@phampton6781]

Some impressive automation here, I had no idea production lines were this advanced in 1906. Of course, it's clearly also a hive of human activity especially the packing and oven areas where there are no machines. Also interesting to note all the packers are women and all the workers at the ovens are men. Other areas have both genders.

[@billhosko7723]

Whatever Karen.

[@davidliell4573]

My mother, Frances Mullan worked there 1925-1933. I am still looking for her address. She married Valentine Liell from 198 Southark Park Road in September 1933

[@wayinfront1]

My mother was born the same year.

[@jameslatimer1432]

I wonder if they used to spit in the biscuits like they do today!!!

[@sarah3796]

3:40 aaaahhh how old is that child 😬😬😬

[@billhosko7723]

getaoveryesrself KAREN...

[@fatimatata3579]

Quanto cinismo dizer que é lindo ver esses escravos passar 90% de sua existência nessa situação.

[@Herbsandspices100]

It's so weird to see kids working in a factory!

[@jackofswords7]

But I'll bet they and their families were grateful for the extra money it brought in.

[@surefmeurope5766]

These would have been steam powered presumably?

[@iamxb70]

It does seem like they are humourless and overworked, however they all knew the camera was there, and so in reality i think they were putting on their most "impressive" behaviour so as to look indispensable. People get used to things, and while modern day people shudder at this type of routine, people in the video seem very adept at what they do, and i dare say many of them liked it. It is kind of sad to know that no one in the film is still alive. The female near the beginning who is arranging the biscuits was very dextrous and had a curious personality (for the camera), and now she is long gone along with her thoughts and tastes etc.

[@billhosko7723]

Another KAREN folks... they ALWAYS are sanctimonious...

[@chuckemmorll2821]

Fantastic machinery, and lethal, a trapped limb wouldn't stop it, no compensation given.

[@billhosko7723]

JFC... GO AWAY KAREN... you sanc types are always out trolling...

[@theinfotime3614]

Wao but since 2020 is veery fast

[@drServitis]

3:44 KID HAD THE BEST JOB OF ALL. COULD SIT AND CHILL. 4:56 FAT GUY TRIED TO GET IN EVERY SCENE FOR NO REASON, JUST WANTED TO ACT LIKE THE BOSS AND BE SEEN.

[@billhosko7723]

No one cares KAREN.

[@ut7855]

I m eating them right now. Company left its traces in Pakistan (pre partition frenchies may b)

[@DreamTheaterSkull]

Back when people actually worked for a a dollar and obesity wasn't such a problem.

[@Avataan]

Back when there weren't 7 billion mouths to feed. No wonder we have to eat machine made mass produced crap when there's a huge daily demand on everything.

[@szaki]

Hmm! You can do it yourself, cooking, baking etc..? My wife bakes breads and biscuits! Not that hard, once you know how?

[@trishayamada807]

szaki consider yourself lucky you have electricity and the money to afford and store ingredients. Step outside your box there are millions who don’t. I’m always amazed that people think their experience is everyone else’s. It’s not. I too bake, but I’m fortunate to be able to do so. That said if I was struggling financially I can buy a loaf of white bread on sale for 25 cents. Some people don’t have the money to buy flour, yeast, salt, sugar, but they can buy a premade loaf of bread.

[@ziggycat999]

1906....how times have changed! Most of the laborors look like teenagers and at 8:00 minutes there's a child working at the conveyer belt.

[@mariekatherine5238]

ziggycat999 My grandmother quit school at age 11 and went to work in a Brooklyn pencil factory after her stepfather died suddenly. There was no NHS, no benefits in those days. In the US we still have to pay big $$$ for medical care. Child labor wasn't a political issue, it was what one did to survive. She later went to a business school at night and worked as an accountant retiring at age 78. Grandma died in 1993 at age 102.

[@sadietravels6213]

Marie Katherine God bless your Grandmother. She is an example of the great generations of the past. They did what was needed with few complaints.

[@sarahsmith9084]

All that labor. I know times have changed, but it's just soooo much labor that the retailer in me cringes. It kept people employed though rather than sitting idle.

[@billhosko7723]

No one cares Karen 'cringing'... Massive production in this film.

[@The15secondsOfame]

If they had cell phones, they’d be standing around texting or checking emails.

[@tobygoodguy4032]

Everyone appears fit and probably doesn't binge on a box of PF.

[@PrimeDirective101]

Piece work is so manic and a mean spirited business model. Workers would be more willingly efficient if they were treated with a little more fairness. I did various jobs like this in my late teens in an industrial city. It was relentless and you had to be go at a frenzied pace to make extra money. I walked out of a thread factory and never looked back. Thankfully, I didn't stay in factories.

[@billhosko7723]

No one cares KAREN.

[@matildabond..2390]

rolling out dough.

[@davidfrobel7582]

how come no rubber gloves ,,lol nice old film

[@Poliss95]

Rubber gloves are no more hygienic than bare hands. Probably less so.

[@91Redmist]

@@Poliss95 That's right. Scratching your ass with either is gross all the same, lol.

[@billhosko7723]

Ideat KAREN.

[@bizzjoe]

I have a box of those very same biscuits.. they were given to me by ... nah im only jokin

[@surefmeurope5766]

4:27 Kid baking biscuits picks nose 🤔

[@wayinfront1]

I spotted that too! But he was just scratching the side of his nose.

[@billhosko7723]

Ideat

[@wolfnipplechips]

Could have been worse - could have been at a coal face for 10 hours a day.

[@tiedupsmurf]

Wow not that long before the war

[@matildabond..2390]

8 years

[@tilasole3252]

Child labor 😅

[@4570Govt]

Notice how few of these people are fat? Most are skinny as rakes, even when they work in a biscuit(cookie) factory!

[@allandavies1642]

Gueling work for those people,and amazing machinery.And just 8 years later those poor lads would be fighting for their lives because of a rich men's arrogance,greed and stupidity.

[@billhosko7723]

JFC... geta grip troll

[@allandavies1642]

@@billhosko7723 ,What on earth are you talking about ?

[@libertylost8286]

I wonder how many women got their hair caught in those machines. Then you see the guy scratching or picking his nose. Lol.

[@billhosko7723]

Another KAREN has spoken folks

[@enniscorthylad]

There is a lot of child labour in this film. Health and safety regulations were non-existent with the children sitting beside unguarded machinery. Little or no safety equipment and the noise levels must have been dreadful. The work clothes look dirty and all the workers aren't wearing gloves, so hygiene wasn't a priority either.

[@jackofswords7]

A yet no one ever spoke about biscuit poisoning.

[@barbarabrantley4779]

Micheal Sean O'Dubhghaill people have cooked for centuries without gloves. If the hands are clean then the food will be clean. Restaurant kitchens are filthy nowadays compared to a hundred years ago. A fact. Work in one or listen to those that does and have worked in a restaurant kitchen

[@amlcknz]

I did some maintenance work in a biscuit factory about 10 years ago and gloves were still not worn. Hands were washed and sanitised on entering the production area

[@billhosko7723]

JFC... get over yerself KAREN...

[@sarahlouise7163]

[@oopsadaze]

Graphic Film Footage of WHY we NEED-Unions, Child Labor Laws, OSHA Rules, Fair Pay, Minimum Wage, etc, etc This is NO WAY to live! Profit must be balanced with respect for the worker, it can not go unchecked. Society's Progression is judged by its Humanity.

[@billhosko7723]

JFC... another troll KAREN has lectured about THE PAST.

[@swaldron5558]

They are should be very lucky to work these biscuits industry instead go down to coal mine.

[@billhosko7723]

another KAREN here folks...

[@ian4iPad2]

Interesting gender division of labour. The men and boys baked and the women and girls packed.