George Bassett & Co., known simply as Bassett's, was an English

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

company and brand. The company was founded in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

by George Bassett in 1842. The company became a brand of

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

in 1989. The brand's final owner was

Mondelēz International Mondelēz International, Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, Holding company, holding, drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual rev ...

, which merged the brand with

Maynards Maynards was a British confectionery manufacturer best known for manufacturing wine gums. It was acquired by Cadbury in the 1990s, which in turn was acquired by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) in 2010. In 2016, the brand was j ...

to create Maynards Bassetts in 2016. The company's best-known sweets, the

Liquorice Allsorts Liquorice allsorts are liquorice confectionery sold as an assortment. Made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine, they were first produced in Sheffield, England, by Geo. Bassett & Co Ltd. Allsorts are p ...

, were created by accident in 1899 and in 1926 the Bertie Bassett mascot was created; Bertie continues to represent the product today.

Jelly Babies Jelly Babies are a type of soft sugar jelly sweets in the shape of plump babies, sold in a variety of colours. They were first manufactured in Lancashire, England, in the nineteenth century. Their popularity waned before being revived by Basse ...

were produced by the brand since 1918.

History

The Sheffield Directory of 1842 records George Bassett as being "wholesale confectioner, lozenge maker and British wine trader". In 1851, Bassett took on an apprentice called Samuel Meggitt Johnson, who later became Bassett's son-in-law. His descendants ran the company until Gordon Johnson retired as chairman in the 1970s. Bassett's was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

in 1929. They opened up a factory in Broad Street, Sheffield in 1852. The site moved in 1933 to

Owlerton Owlerton () is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, England, northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was a small rural village from the Early Middle Ages; it became part of Sheffield in the e ...

in another district of the city and remains there today. Unclaimed Babies were being produced during the 19th century, especially in the North West of England. In 1918, Bassetts launched their own range of the soft sweets which they called Peace Babies. They were re-launched as

in the 1950s and were allegedly thrown at

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

during concerts as they were a favourite of

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

. The

variety was created by accident when Bassett salesman Charlie Thompson dropped the samples of several different products in front of a prospective client. The client was taken by the idea of selling the sweets all mixed up and in return for the success, the company allowed the client to name the new brand. Barratt & Co. Ltd. was acquired in a friendly takeover by Bassett's in 1966. In 1989, the combined firms were acquired by the then-united

Cadbury-Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

company in a deal brokered for £91 million. In 2016, all the products were re-marketed under the Maynards Bassett dual branding.

Products

Confectionery items that use the Bassett's name today include: *

** Fruit Allsorts ** Dessert Allsorts ** Sports Mixture *

** Milky Babies ** Fruity Babies ** Party Babies *

Sherbet Lemon Sherbet is a fizzy, sweet powder, usually eaten by dipping a lollipop or liquorice, using a small spoon, or licking it from a finger. Etymology The word "sherbet" is from Turkish ', which is from Persian , which in turn comes from "sharbat", ...

s * Fruit Bonbons ** Lemon Bonbons * Pear Drops *

Dolly mixture Dolly Mixture were an English rock band, formed in 1978 by the bassist and vocalist Debsey Wykes, guitarist and vocalist Rachel Bor, and drummer Hester Smith. They had a taste of top 40 success performing backing vocals for the Captain Sensib ...

* Sweetshop Favourites * Murray Mints * Mint Creams * Mint Favourites * Traditional Wine Gums (discontinued) * Traditional Wine Gums (New recipe...) *

Imperials The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

** Imperials Spearmint * Everton Mints * Animal Mix * Snakes * Sour Squirms * and assorted

toffee Toffee is an English confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepar ...

References

Bibliography

External links

{{Mondelez Food and drink companies established in 1842 Cadbury brands Mondelez International brands Confectionery companies of the United Kingdom Defunct food manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies based in Sheffield Defunct companies based in Sheffield 1842 establishments in England Yorkshire cuisine

History

Products

See also

References

Bibliography

External links