Bassett's

{{short description|Former British confectionery company and former brand}}

File:Jubilee Confectioners sweets, Town, Beamish Museum, 26 November 2006 (4).jpg tin in Beamish Museum]]

George Bassett & Co., known simply as Bassett's, was an English confectionery company and brand.

The company was founded in Sheffield by George Bassett in 1842. The company became a brand of Cadbury Schweppes in 1989. The brand's final owner was Mondelēz International, which merged the brand with Maynards to create Maynards Bassetts in 2016.

The company's best-known sweets, the Liquorice Allsorts, were created by accident in 1899 and in 1926 the Bertie Bassett mascot was created; Bertie continues to represent the product today. Jelly Babies were produced by the brand since 1918.

History

The Sheffield Directory of 1842 records George Bassett as being "wholesale confectioner, lozenge maker and British wine trader".{{sfn|Opie|2008|p=116}} In 1851, Bassett took on an apprentice called Samuel Meggitt Johnson, who later became Bassett's son-in-law. His descendants ran the company until Gordon Johnson retired as chairman in the 1970s. Bassett's was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1929.{{cite web|title=Liquorice companies in Pontefract and Castleford|url=http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/Documents/culture-museums/museums/museum-collections/liquorice-companies.pdf|website=Wakefield Council|publisher=Wakefield Council|access-date=20 July 2016}} They opened up a factory in Broad Street, Sheffield in 1852. The site moved in 1933 to Owlerton in another district of the city and remains there today.{{cite news|last1=Tuffrey|first1=Peter|title=Retro; Sheffield sweet empire built by accident|url=http://www.thestar.co.uk/retro/retro-sheffield-sweet-empire-built-by-accident-1-7076773|access-date=20 July 2016|work=Sheffield Star|date=31 January 2015}} Unclaimed Babies were being produced during the 19th century, especially in the North West of England.{{cite news|last1=Potts|first1=Lauren|title=Sweet success: Unravelling the Jelly Baby's dark past|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35100612|access-date=20 July 2016|work=BBC News|date=28 December 2015}} In 1918, Bassetts launched their own range of the soft sweets which they called Peace Babies. They were re-launched as Jelly Babies in the 1950s and were allegedly thrown at the Beatles during concerts as they were a favourite of George Harrison.{{cite news|title=Favourite traditional sweets in pictures|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatpicturegalleries/9158591/Favourite-British-sweets-in-pictures.html?frame=2173981|access-date=20 July 2016|work=The Telegraph}}

The Liquorice Allsorts variety was created by accident when Bassett salesman Charlie Thompson dropped the samples of several different products in front of a prospective client. The client was taken by the idea of selling the sweets all mixed up and in return for the success, the company allowed the client to name the new brand.{{sfn|Opie|2008|p=116}}{{Cite web |last=Lauren |title=Liquorice Allsorts – There's Allsorts You Should Know About Them |url=https://www.sweetsinthecity.co.uk/news/post/liquorice-allsorts-sweet-facts |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=WebsiteName |language=en}}

Barratt & Co. Ltd. was acquired in a friendly takeover by Bassett's in 1966.{{Citation | title = Bassett offers £3.9M. for Barratt | page = 14 | newspaper = The Financial Times | location = London | date = 29 September 1966}} In 1989, the combined firms were acquired by the then-united Cadbury-Schweppes company in a deal brokered for £91 million. In 2016, all the products were re-marketed under the Maynards Bassett dual branding.{{cite web|title=Two brands become one|url=http://www.scottishgrocer.co.uk/2016/03/two-brands-become-one/|website=Scottish Grocer|access-date=20 July 2016|date=March 2016}}