The story of the Gawith family tobacco business begins in 1792 with Thomas Harrison. Harrison became interested in the tobacco trade and journeyed to Glasgow, Scotland, to learn more about snuff and tobacco production. By 1805, he had set up a tobacco manufacturer with a chemist named Thomas Brocklebank in Kendal, England, using some secondhand mill machinery to grind tobacco. They called their operation Harrison & Brocklebank Tobacco Manufacturers.

By the 18th century, Kendal had become a center point in trading with a plethora of transport routes and facilities. Despite a lot of the tobacco trade being lost to Glasgow as time went on, Kendal still had the distinct advantage of being on a pack horse route from England to Scotland, allowing the town to become a staging post.

When Thomas Harrison died in 1830, his son Thomas Harrison II took over the business. The family bought the premises at Lowther Street, which served as both a family home and a factory. Harrison II had two daughters, Jane and Ann, with his daughter Jane marrying the titular Samuel Gawith. When Thomas Harrison II died, Jane and Samuel's family moved into Lowther Street to work in the family trade, changing the name to Brocklebank and Gawith, Tobacco and Snuff Manufacturers.

Around the same time, Thomas Brocklebank and Ann Harrison died, leaving Jane and Samuel the sole owners of the company. By 1864, Jane Gawith had died, and one year later, Samuel Gawith died, leaving their seven surviving children. Their oldest boy, Samuel Gawith II, was 22 at the time, and already in the trenches of the business, as well as one of the younger sons, John Edward.

The company was left to three people: Samuel Gawith II, Henry Hoggarth, and John Illingworth. Henry Hoggarth was a friend of Samuel Gawith senior and served as a traveling salesman for the company. 1867 would see Illingworth leave to start his own tobacco firm. The business was primarily run by Gawith II and his brother, John Edward. The younger Gawith brother, William Henry, and Henry Hoggarth's son, Henry Jr., also began to work at the firm in 1870 after they left school.

The two families were close, with the Gawiths living at 27 Lowther Street and the Hoggarths living next door at number 29. Their partnership lasted 10 years as Samuel and John Edward Gawith, Tobacco and Snuff Manufacturers until 1878 when the two brothers carved up the business. Samuel Gawith II took control of the snuff mill while John Edward retained the shop and tobacco business at Lowther Street.

John Edward's first focus was on producing twist tobacco, but soon pivoted to also producing snuff, acquiring a mill just south of Kendal. This expansion into snuff led to bankruptcy several years later. The trademarks and recipes were then brought back by Samuel Gawith II.

When Samuel Gawith II continued production, they commissioned a building on the opposite side of the River Kent for the Lowther Street factory. The new factory was named Kendal Brown House, in recognition of the company's most famous brand. The factory opened officially in 1881.

Simultaneously, the youngest Gawith son, William Henry, and his friend, Henry Hoggarth Jr., served as apprentices to the tobacco firm. When the business split, both boys continued to work for John Edward Gawith until the business closed. Naturally, when Samuel Gawith II bought back the business, the two men started to work for the Samuel Gawith Company.

Their employment would be short-lived because in 1887, the two men soon took over Nobel and Wilson, a small-time tobacconist with both a snuff mill and a tobacco factory. Within the year, Gawith & Hoggarth Enterprise leased the mill. By this point, there were two Gawith tobacco companies in the town of Kendal: Gawith & Hoggarth on one side and Samuel Gawith on the other.

William Henry married Harriet Hoggarth in 1890, and two years later, his older brother, John Edward, died. William then became the main owner of the property at Lowther Street. The Gawith and Hoggarth partnership moved the factory and offices into the Lowther Street location. In 1892, William died, leaving behind a daughter and a son, Samuel Henry IV. In 1905, Samuel Henry IV left school at the age of 14 and entered the family firm. Years later, in 1923, he and Henry Hoggarth Jr. would incorporate the partnership and become a limited liability company, with the two serving as the directors. Henry Hoggarth Jr. had three sons, with two of them, Charles and Frank, starting to work at the company during this time.

By 1928, Henry Hoggarth Jr died, and a few months later, Samuel Henry IV was appointed company chairman and managing director, with both Charles and Frank becoming directors. Samuel Gawith IV married in 1917 and have four children with his wife, Emily Ruth Nelson. His second son, Geoffrey, entered the business when he turned 16, and in 1946, he married Margaret Theressa Hodgson.

During World War 2, Geoffrey joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1941 and would earn the Dutch Flying Cross during the course of his service. After the war ended, in 1945, he returned to work and became director of the firm. Samuel Henry Gawith IV retired in 1958, but still remained on the board of directors. Charles Hoggarth took on the role of managing director and would be joined by Geoffrey in 1959 before Frank Hoggarth retired in 1965. When Samuel Gawith IV died in 1966, Geoffrey was elected to succeed as chairman.

A serious car accident sent Charles Hoggarth's life into a spiral and forced him to step aside due to his inability to work full time. Geoffrey was made sole managing director, with his wife, Margaret, becoming a director as well. In 1971, John Ruthven Gawith, son of Geoffrey, was appointed as a management trainee, as was Charles Hoggarth's son, David. By 1973, Charles Hoggarth would retire completely.

John Gawith was appointed manager in 1977, and by 1978, he was a director and board member alongside his parents. One year later, David C. Hoggarth resigned. He and his father sold their shares in the company to Geoffrey Gawith and his son John. In 1981, John's wife Irene became a director, and both Geoffrey and Margaret stepped down as directors.

Until 1994, tobacco and snuff had continued to be produced at Lowther Street, but that year, Gawith Hoggarth & Co. moved into three modern warehouses on the edge of Kendal. An upgrade also came with the move; John Gawith invested in a small production unit from British American Tobacco, which enabled production to be ramped up. However, a majority of the production was, and continues to be, done by hand. Despite moving to new warehouses, some pipe tobacco, like twist, and the packaging of snuff, continued at Lowther Street. However, once the final twist machines could be moved to the new warehouses, all work stopped at Lowther Street.

Gawith Hoggarth acquired Samuel Gawith's business, goodwill, trademarks, and brands in 2015. Both brands would come together under one roof, uniting the Gawith companies once more. Chris Gawith and his sister, Rachel, serve as directors in the current era. The family continues to run Gawith Hoggarth & Co., and currently employs roughly 35 people, including the production team, dedicated sales team, and packaging and shipping team.

Gawith Hoggarth and Co. still does things the old-school way, with vintage machinery and hand-blending touches. There's a clear passion and love for the tobacco they produce. I encourage you to raise a toast the next time you smoke a bowl of your favorite Gawith Hoggarth and Co. blend to their legacy and their future.

Bibliography

• Gawith Hoggarth & Co. (n.d.).
• Stanion, C.(n.d.) "The Traditions of Fine Tobacco," Pipes and tobaccos, Summer 1999.