Huntley and Palmer African Thumb Piano

In 1899 writer Joseph Conrad used an empty Huntley & Palmers tin as a symbol of British colonial power in Africa.Reading's world famous biscuit makers started in 1822 and by 1900 were the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world, employing over 5,000 people in the town.

In the nineteenth century Huntley & Palmers exploited Britain's empire to expand the markets for their products. In 1874 they boasted, 'seldom a ship sails from England that does not bear within his ribs a Reading biscuit'.

Huntley & Palmers' biscuit tins, like this one, were re-used in many different ways across the world and were sometimes as highly prized as their contents. In Uganda bibles and prayer books had to measure three inches broad by three inches thick so as to fit into two-pound tins, which were about the only containers that would protect them against the ravages of white ants. Furthermore when the English Prince Henry died in Sierra Leone in 1896, his body was brought home in a rum-filled tank made out of biscuit tins.

In 1899 writer Joseph Conrad used an empty Huntley & Palmers tin as a symbol of British colonial power in Africa.