Victory V

{{Short description|British brand of liquorice-flavoured lozenges}}

{{distinguish|V sign}}

{{Infobox food|name=Victory V|image=Victory V.jpg|caption=A packet and a roll of lozenges|type=Lozenge|year=1864|creator=Thomas Fryer & Edward Smith|country=United Kingdom|region=Nelson, Lancashire|no_recipes=true}}

File:V for Victory sweet.jpg

Victory V is a British brand of liquorice-flavoured lozenges.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-victory-v-lozenges-1642783.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220817/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-victory-v-lozenges-1642783.html |archive-date=2022-08-17 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Minor British Institutions: Victory V lozenges|author=Sean O'Grady|date=14 March 2009|publisher=The Independent, London}} Originally manufactured in Nelson, Lancashire, they were devised by Thomas Fryer and Edward Smith MD in 1864 and were initially made by hand to ensure that each sweet contained the correct amount of therapeutic ingredients: ether, liquorice and chloroform.

In 1959, a film was produced by Red Rose Films called The Story of Victory-V, documenting the production of Victory V lozenges and other products of the Nelson Victory V factory.{{cite web|url=http://www.nwfa.mmu.ac.uk:591/samhanna/FMPro?-db=samhanna%20web.fp3&-format=record_detail.htm&-lay=websafe&-sortfield=accession%20number&gallery=working%20life&-max=10&-recid=38&-find=|title=North West Film Archive|author=Manchester Metropolitan University|date=2010|publisher=Manchester Metropolitan University|access-date=August 31, 2012}}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In the 1960s they acquired the Alverthorpe firm of A.Talbot and Son. Victory V lozenges are available in specialist shops and online, but no longer contain chloroform or ether. However, their scent and flavour is still vividly reminiscent of diethyl ether - recreated via artificial means to preserve the original flavour.{{Cite web |title=Ernest Jackson brands: Victory V |url=https://www.ejackson.co.uk/our-brands/victory-v |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=www.ejackson.co.uk |archive-date=2022-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703135947/https://www.ejackson.co.uk/our-brands/victory-v |url-status=dead }} Today they are manufactured by Ernest Jackson & Co. Ltd. in Crediton, Devon.