Thornton's Confectionary Oral History, Part 1
Details
- Recorded
- Wednesday 29th September 2010, 11:05am: Thornton residence, Paekakariki.
- Duration
- (12'04")
- Interviewer
- Gabor Toth
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Part 1 (11.6MB)
Contents
| Time marker: | Summary: |
|---|---|
| 00'35" | Ron and Jim Thornton's, grandfather, George Henry Thornton, started Thorton's Confectionary in 1879. |
| 01'14" | Ron and Jim explain the establishment of the business. According to family history, George Henry Thornton arrived in New Zealand in the early 1870s, but returned to England to marry before coming back to New Zealand with his wife in 1876. |
| 03'12" | Initially, George Henry worked in a biscuit factory in Wellington, and then in 1879 set up his own confectionary business on Manners St, which began as a small retail business, but quickly expanded into a wholesale business. |
| 04'13" | The business continued in this manner until George Henry died at the age of 49. His 16 year-old son, Charles James Thornton, took over the business, and it is probably at this time that the business is reduced back into a smaller retail business. |
| 04'52" | Jim explains what kinds of confectionary were produced by Thornton's. |
| 05'30" | Ron explains that he believes that Charles James was actually 19 years old when he inherited the business, and did so reluctantly. |
| 06'31" | Ron and Jim discuss how the family lived above the factory in Manners St, and the success of the business, which at one time sold confectionary all over New Zealand. It is known that on a trip to the West Coast of the South Island in 1915, that Charles James and his sister visited Thornton's sales representatives, indicating the scope of the wholesale business at that time. |
| 09'00" | Ron and Jim discuss which family members lived in the Manners St building. They grew up with their parents in Macfarlane St, Mt Victoria. |
| 10'17" | Ron and Jim discuss that the business changed its name from G H Thornton and Sons to C J Thornton's, sometime after the death of their grandfather. |
| 10'58" | Ron and Jim discuss that while their father inherited the business from his father, other family members had interests in the Manners St building. |