Scope and Content
Loose-leaf [removed from unmarked, dark blue 4-ring binder], printed text with photographic prints glued in. Text of Chiltern-Hunt’s business career compiled by Harold Cutler, who had joined the firm by 1934; remainder unattributed but likely also by Cutler.
As well as presenting the story of a business's growth and diversification over half a century, the text provides a good quantity of information about the packaging industry between 1929 and 1979, in terms of both technological developments and trends in material culture (such as the hula hoop craze in the autumn of 1958; see p.63), and includes comment on the life of the company’s staff-- the work; the livestock and poultry kept on the spare land on the Hemel Hempstead site until it was developed; pastimes and sporting activities and so on.
Company history chapter headings are:
‘The Years 1929-1939’; ‘The War Years’; ‘The Immediate Post War Years (and the move to Hemel Hempstead)’; ‘A Decade of Expansion’; ‘Consolidation’; ‘Some Diversions’; ‘Canada’; ‘Australia’; and ‘New Zealand’.
Photographs as follows [black-and-white photographs of early years are c. 1970s reprints of originals]:
p.1: P.J. Chiltern-Hunt at his desk [colour; c.1979].
p.3: P.J. Chiltern-Hunt and original machine with which he started business [b/w; c.1970s].
p.4: Portrait of P.J. Chiltern-Hunt at start of business career [tinted; c.1929].
p.5: Women manufacturing paper containers for 105 mm. ammunition, male supervisor in background, Ebury Road, Watford [Hertfordshire] works [b/w; c.1943-1945].
p.6: P.J. Chiltern-Hunt working with wheelbarrow on building site of new Hemel Hempstead [Hertfordshire] factory [b/w; [c.1943].
p.7: View of Hemel Hempstead works factory floor showing workers and machines manufacturing polythene bags [b/w; c.1950s].
p.8: Ammunition containers manufactured in the Kraft/Polythene/Kraft process developed by Chiltern-Hunt [colour; c.1970s].
p.9: View of exterior of Chiltern Works at Hemel Hempstead [colour; c.1979].
p.10: [Picture missing of U.K. Board with Geoffrey Squires of Crew Turnbull and Co., the Company’s accountants]; group picture of office and administrative staff [colour; c.1979].
p.11: Individual pictures of staff (head and shoulders): Arthur Cartwright, Factory Manager; Colin Barnett, Contracts Manager; Tom Loddy, Works Engineer; Norman Bowes, Paper Conversion Manager; Jeff Herbert, Injection Moulding Manager; John Keating, Quality Control Manager; Stan Edmends, Department Foreman; Peter Jones, Maintenance Engineer; Willy Catterfeld, Development Engineer; Jock Rennie, Department Foreman; the late Joe Goodson, 40 years in factory management; the late Percy Austin, 15 years as Chief Engineer [all b/w; c. late1970s].
p.12: View of exterior of Hemel Hempstead works with new office block in background [colour; c.1979].
p.25: Exterior of first premises of the works in West Parade, Dunstable [b/w; c. 1929].
p.16: Original print machine installed in 1929, a platen press made by Cropper & Co., powered by manual treadle [colour; c. 1970s].
p.17: Staff of Chiltern Printing Co., Dunstable, including Harold Cutler [b/w; 1934].
p.18: Women in workshop producing gun cotton primers [b/w; c. late 1930s].
p.19: Women manufacturing paper shell containers at Ebury Road, Watford, works [b/w; c.1942].
p.20: Jettison fuel tanks at Maidenhead [Berkshire] works [b/w; c. 1943].
p.21: Side-rear view of U.S. Air Force Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter [identified in text as a Thunderbird] equipped with jettison fuel tank taking off from Bovingdon Airfield [Hertfordshire] on a test flight
[b/w; 1943].
p.22: (1) Display of components of jettison fuel tanks, outside, with two women and P.J. Chiltern-Hunt standing behind them [b/w; c. 1943];
(2) Silver replica of jettison fuel tank presented to P.J. Chiltern-Hunt by the Ministry of Aircraft Production ‘as a memento of a notable achievement’ [colour; c. 1970s].
p.23: Tube winding machine created by the company to produce main body tubes of the jettison fuel tanks, with two female workers standing by machine [b/w; c. 1943].
p.24: Two pictures showing manufacture of shell practice rounds at Headstone Lane, Harrow [Middlesex], female workers (one in dungarees) [b/w; c.1943].
p.26: Group photographs (taken out of doors) of wartime factory staff (mostly women) at (1) Clarendon Road, Watford, factory and (2) Ebury Road, Watford [both b/w; c. early 1940s].
p.27: Group photographs (taken out of doors) of wartime factory staff (mostly women) at (1) Headstone Lane, Harrow and (2) Oldfield Road, Maidenhead [both b/w; c. early 1940s].
p.28: Montage of images of early stages of building of Hemel Hempstead works [b/w; c. 1944].
p.29: Hemel Hempstead works building site showing raised concrete foundations, with lorry and houses in background [b/w; c. 1944].
p.30: Aerial view of Chiltern Works, Hemel Hempstead, showing extent of extensions by 1953; allotment gardens and Grand Union Canal in foreground, houses in background [b/w; c. 1953].
p.31: Four men (one of them Chiltern-Hunt) and a small boy examining a second-hand lathe bed [b/w; c. early 1940s].
p.32: Photographs from building work at Hemel Hempstead works site of (1) Concrete mixer; (2) tipper lorry [registration number appears to be FV 5724]; (3) dumper at work with man at the wheel [all b/w; c. 1944].
p.33: Photographs from building work at Hemel Hempstead works site of (1) George Biggs and ‘Uncle’ Frank Sharp working with the concrete mixer[?], and glimpse of little girl’s face in background; (2) ‘The Stores’: temporary buildings of timber, cloth and corrugated metal sheeting used during first year of work; (3) wreck of a temporary store blown over by the wind [all b/w; c. early 1944].
p.34: Photos of Hemel Hempstead works’ ‘pets’: (1) P.J. Chiltern-Hunt in suit, bareback on their over-indulged horse; (2) P.J. Chiltern-Hunt talking to one of the Jersey cows, a few houses visible in background; (3) newborn Jersey calf in grass on site [all b/w; c. 1940s].
p.35: P.J. Chiltern-Hunt with range of fibreboard drums as produced 1948-1960 [b/w; c. 1950s].
pp.36-37: Photos of advertising and mailing shots used in sales campaigns for (1) cellulose acetate containers; (2) Ambassador Fibreboard Drum; (3) various fibreboard drums ‘now being used in the export drive’ [b/w; c. 1950s].
p.38: Display of various cellulose acetate containers made 1950-1955 [b/w; c. mid-1950s].
p.40: First extrusion of polythene Layflat film using Berstoff Extruder purchased from Imperial Chemical Industries [ICI] [b/w; 1948].
p.41: Chiltern’s company stand at Packaging Exhibition at Olympia [Kensington, London] [b/w; 1950].
p.42: View of factory floor crammed with drums, parts and machinery, part of production of fibreboard drums (a few people visible but not in focus) [b/w; 1950].
p.43: Montage of images showing some of the diversified products produced in the early post-war period, including clear acetate packaging, fibreboard drums, a picture of a machine and one of a lorry loaded with fibreboard drums [registration possibly starts with ‘B’] [b/w; c.1950s].
p.44: Film extrusion plant at Hemel Hempstead [colour; c. 1970s].
p.45: (1) Production of printed polythene bags by side-weld process (‘Moreton’s selected potatoes’ bags); (2) general view of printing and bag-making department [both b/w; c. late 1950s].
p.46: Chiltern polythene booth at Packaging Exhibition, Olympia [London] [b/w; 1964].
p.47: Advertisement from sales campaign for polythene bags and liners (‘Chiltern-- the pack that attracts’) [colour; 1960].
p.48: Prototype coating machine built in company’s own workshops, the first machine in the UK to produce polythene coated to paper [b/w; c. early 1950s].
p.49: Coating/laminating plant producing KPK [kraft/polythene/kraft] laminations for production of ammunition containers [colour; c. 1970s].
p.50: Mailing shot circulated to the trade, about polythene-coated kraft paper [colour; c. late 1960s].
p.51: View of factory department manufacturing K/P/K closed end containers with outer skin of polythene film (female workers; faces mostly not visible) [colour; c. 1970s].
p.52: Factory machine for injection moulding of ammunition containers in H.D. polythene, with John Keating inspecting ammunition containers by the machine [colour; c. late 1970s].
p.53: Ammunition containers for 81mm mortar bombs [colour; c. late 1970s].
pp.54-55: Four pictures showing steps in production of K/P/K ammunition containers (workers shown): (1) slitting of laminated board prior to winding; (2) spiral winding of K/P/K tube; (3) trimming spiral wound tubes to correct dimensions before assembly; (4) final inspection of containers made to Specification 10226 [all colour; c. late 1970s].
p.56: New office block built in 1976 [colour; c. 1976].
p.57: Two pictures showing quality control in the laboratory (John Keating and a junior shown) [colour; c. late 1970s].
p.58: Exterior of factory, showing completed containers for despatch to Ordnance factories being loaded onto flatbed with a Matbro forklift [colour; c. late 1970s].
p.59: (1) Part of stores housing kraft board and polythene granules (man operating Lansing Bagnall forklift in foreground); (2) Exterior view of factory showing installation of new Battenfeld moulding machine in 1977 (large Bravo[?] crane assisting) [both colour; c. late 1970s].
p.60: Concrete tile making plant in use at Hemel Hempstead [b/w; 1944].
p.61: View of Shendish Park estate [part of Shendish Estate, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire] [colour; c. 1970s].
p.62: Men playing tennis (in work shirts and trousers) at Shendish Park [colour; c. late 1970s].
p.63: Two men working with machines for extrusion of polythene pipes [b/w; c. early 1960s].
p.64: (1) Blow-moulding 5 gallon jerry cans in the factory, c. mid-1960s; (2) P.J. Chiltern-Hunt making awards to long-serving employees, 1961 [both b/w].
p.65: Sepia-toned advertisement card for Chiltern polythene drums [colour; c. 1960s].
p.66: Aerial view of Chiltern Works, Hemel Hempstead, the Chiltern Group’s headquarters (shows also portion of canal on west side and back gardens and houses on east side [colour; c. 1979].
p.68: Pictures (head and shoulders) of (1) Chris Loughrin, Director, and (2) George Wilson, Accountant (presumably both of Chiltern Canadian Finance Corporation Ltd) [both b/w; c. 1970s].
p.69: (1) View showing part of the 95 acre site at Brampton, Ontario [Canada]; (2) Further view of Brampton, Ontario, site showing the proximity of the township; (3) aerial view of 5 acre industrial site at Port Hope [Ontario], with penned annotations identifying buildings and land: ‘AMF Atomics’; ‘Mathews’; No 2 (over the road); Chiltern 1,2,3,4,5,6 (over 6 pieces of land, the first 5 on the right side of the road); ‘Nicholson’; [illeg.] [1&2 colour, 3 b/w; all c. 1970s].
p.71: Pictures from the Australia estate in Queensland and New South Wales: (1) View looking west over the Terranora Estate (wooded and farm land, ocean in far distance); (2) Negombo Flats on the Esplanade at Surfers Paradise; (3) View of the Nerang Estate (hills in background, lake and cattle in pasture in foreground) [all colour (rather yellowed); c. late 1960s].
p72: Pictures (head and shoulders) of (1) Don Hewson, Director, and (2) Mike Smith, Director (presumably both of Chiltern-Hunt (N.Z.) Ltd [both b/w; c. 1970s].
p.73: Four pictures showing various stages of re-afforestation on estate land in the Kerikeri District, North Island, New Zealand [all colour; c. late 1970s].