History of Bickford's Australia
| Industry | Pharmacist, pharmaceutical chemist |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1839 |
| Founder | William Bickford |
| Headquarters | Adelaide, South Australia |
|
Key people
|
William Bickford Ann Margaret Bickford |
| Partnership | |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical chemist, beverage manufacturer |
| Founded | 1864 |
| Founder | Ann Margaret Bickford |
| Headquarters | Adelaide, South Australia |
|
Key people
|
Ann Margaret Bickford William Bickford (jr.) Harry Bickford |
| Limited liability company | |
| Industry | Pharmaceutical chemist, beverage manufacturer |
| Founded | 1903 |
| Headquarters | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Limited liability company | |
| Industry | Beverage manufacturer |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Salisbury South, South Australia |
|
Key people
|
Angelo Kotses |
| Owner | Kotses family |
| Website | www |
Bickford's Australia, formerly A. M. Bickford and Sons was one of the first manufacturing chemists in South Australia and until 1930 one of the State's most significant family owned companies. In 1930, they amalgamated with half a dozen other similar Australian companies to form "Drug Houses of Australia" (DHA), which very successfully continued to produce the "A. M. Bickford and Sons" products: the "drugs" and "chemicals" under the DHA brand; the cordials and soft drinks under the "A. M. Bickford and Sons" brand.
In the late 1960s, DHA became the target of a corporate raider and asset stripper, and by the mid-1970s DHA collapsed under the burden of servicing the imposed massive levels of debt. What was left was split up and sold. Reckitt & Colman acquired the major "drugs" and "chemicals" products and brands, and other people and companies acquired other bits. Melburnian Peter Abbott purchased the pharmacy products, eucalyptus oil operations, and the soft drink products. The pharmacy products were on-sold; the eucalyptus oil operations were incorporated into "FGB"; and the soft drink products continued on under the revived "A. M. Bickford and Sons" brand. In the late 1980s FGB decided to concentrate on their "core businesses" under the FGB brand, and sold the soft drink businesses and now established-for-over-a-century Bickford brand names – the history of the Bickford's products and company names between 1987 and 1999 is not clear.
In 1999 the soft drink business and company names were purchased by the Kotses family. "Bickford's" once again became a South Australian family owned business, and continues to be known for its range of cordials and flavourings which continue to be made today to a similarly high standard by Bickford's Australia.
William Bickford (18 August 1815 – 11 September 1850) was the seventh child (of fourteen) of a well-to-do couple of West Alvington of Devon, England, but when his father died the greater part of his fortune went to his eldest son by an earlier marriage, and his second family, though provided for, had to secure their own future. For the fifteen-year-old William, that meant taking an apprenticeship to Mr Buxton, a druggist.
In September 1838, aged 23, the chemist's assistant left England from Plymouth, rounded the Cape of Good Hope in December, and arrived in Port Adelaide on 15 February 1839 on the barque Platina. Though he had dreams of becoming a shepherd in South Australia, soon after his arrival he was working as assistant in the dispensary attached to the North Terrace surgery of one Dr Bright at a salary of 40/- (£2) a week with board and lodging provided. On 18 August 1839, his 24th birthday, he married Ann Margaret Garrett, whom he had met on the trip from Portsmouth. They were soon expecting their first child, but it died shortly after birth on 6 June 1840, and Ann was seriously ill for some time. In March 1840, William wrote that Dr and Mrs Bright had left the colony for New Zealand, (leaving William to deal with his creditors), and that he had secured another position as manager of a retail shop and dispensary owned by a partnership of two surgeons at a salary of £3 per week.
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