“BLANCO”

In 1842 John Needham produced a polishing paste for the cutlery and Sheffield Plate industries from his home and premises in Harvest Lane in Sheffield, assisted by his niece, Harriet Needham.

Harriet then met Joseph Pickering, the son of a silversmith and they wed. The couple eventually inherited the business, changing the name to ‘Joseph Pickering late John Needham’ and built the ‘Polish Works’ just around the corner in Mowbray Street from where they operated.

The ‘Polish Works’ were damaged in the Sheffield Flood of 1864 and this gave Joseph the opportunity to start planning the ‘Albyn Works’ on Burton Road – which still exists. In time, the business became Joseph Pickering & Sons, and son John Needham Pickering developed new products, including the famous – ‘Blanco’.

Albyn Works expanded to produce Blanco and employed over 100 workers. By 1875 they had a sickness and benefit club and a row of houses in Percy Street, let to his workers at special rates. Joseph’s sister Hannah married Isaac Truelove and his daughter Mary married Isaac’s brother Arthur Truelove. Arthur provided some of the tin packaging used by Joseph Pickering & Sons and in 1900 Joseph brought together the two companies and they were incorporated as Joseph Pickering & Sons Limited. By this stage Blanco was used through the British Empire in particular by the military to whiten their webbing straps etc.

In Moore Street, a new factory for the production of cartons was built in 1906. Faced with terracotta tiles it was designed by city architect – C & CM Hadfield. For three quarters of a century, ‘Blanco’ was the companies’ major product, sold to the Military in over sixty countries. The changes to Kharki after 1900 gave the company another product and then the new RAF created in 1918 a further type of ‘Blanco’ as they were using a blue colour! However, with the end of conscription production of Blanco and other polish products ended and the cardboard box business become their lifeline.

The business was finally sold by the Pickering family in 2005. By 2009 the business failed and finally closed.

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