The Colman's story timeline: 1913-2019

1913

Appointment of E.B. Southwell as the first director of the company who was not a Colman family member. 

Founding of Atlantis Ltd., a joint trading company formed to operate in South America. This began a partnership with Reckitt & Sons of Hull; the two companies eventually merged in 1938.  

1920

A poster by Charles Burton, showing an ostrich and the text "Colman's DSF Mustard Aids Digestion", was created for S. H. Benson Ltd.

1923

Caroline and Jeremiah James' daughter Ethel Mary Colman became Lord Mayor of Norwich, the first woman in the United Kingdom to hold the role of a city mayor. 

1924

First Colman's laboratory opened. This manifested the company's greater focus on product improvement and development.

1925

Colman's chemists developed one of the first powdered infant formulas, advertised as Almata. 

The hand cooperage at Carrow was closed down.  

1926

Launch of The Mustard Club, a major advertising campaign resulting from a collaboration between crime novelist, playwright and critic Dorothy L. Sayers and artist and illustrator John Gilroy. 

The company attempted to develop birdseed as a new product. The seed was tested on canaries bred in Britain's first industrial aviary in Norwich. The birdseed initiative failed. 

1930

Launch of pastry mix Krusto. Despite an innovative advertising campaign (including a cinema film) the product was a commercial failure. 

1932

Colman's Veterinary Mustard was first introduced and marketed.

1934

Introduction of the ready-mixed Pic-Nic mustard, packaged in collapsible tubes. 

1935

Conversion from private to public company. 

1938

Amalgamation of J. & J. Colman of Norwich and Reckitt & Sons of Hull to form Reckitt and Colman's. 

1946

Death of Russell James Colman, Caroline and Jeremiah James's eldest son. Russell bequeathed his collection of works by the Norwich school of painters to Norwich Castle Museum. 

1948

Death of Ethel Colman. Ethel and her sister Helen were key custodians of their father Jeremiah James' collections, including his exceptional collection of Egyptian artefacts, which they donated to Norwich Castle Museum in 1921.

1951

Opening of the Colman Galleries at Norwich Castle Museum.

The galleries were funded through the bequest of Russell J. Colman. Russell's widow Edith continued to donate objects to the museum.

1973

The popular Colman's Mustard Shop opened in Bridewell Alley, Norwich. (1977 would see the opening of a similar shop in Boston, Massachusetts.) 

The production of the ever-popular oval penny tins ended because the machinery used for their production became obsolete. (Incidentally, the old pennies stopped being minted in 1970).  

1984

The Carrow printing department closed.  

1995

Colman's became part of Unilever. 

2017

The closure of the Colman's Mustard Shop, by then located in the Royal Arcade, Norwich. 

2019

Colman's manufacturing was moved out of Norwich, but the brand's links with its city of origin remain strong.