Priday, Metford and Company Limited was a family-run company that produced flour at the City Flour Mills, Gloucester, England for over a century. They were closed down in 1994 and the premises converted to luxury apartments under the name of "Priday's Mill". The City Flour Mills were the location of the landmark case in contract law known as Hadley v. Baxendale.
Foundation of the Gloucester City Flour Mills and lawsuit
The City Flour Mills were built in 1850 by Joseph and Jonah Hadley who used the mill until 1860 when they moved their business to London. During their time, the building was the site of a landmark case in contract law referred to as Hadley v. Baxendale.
Reynolds and Allen
Joseph Reynolds and Henry Allen (both of whom became Mayors of Gloucester) took over the mill, passing on their business in 1875 to their sons, Vincent Reynolds and John Allen, in partnership with Francis Tring Pearce.
Priday, Metford and Company
This business ran into difficulties in 1885 largely owing to the cost of conversion from stone grinding to steel roller-milling, in accordance with contemporary trends, and to the vagaries of wheat prices.
The partners entered into a scheme of arrangement whereby Priday, Metford & Co. took over the business as a going concern.
Charles Priday (already milling at Over and at St. Owen's Mill at the Gloucester Docks), Francis Killigrew Seymour Metford, who had trained as a miller in Bristol and Francis Tring Peace formed the partnership of Priday, Metford & Co., took over the mill and pulled it into profitability. The original documents show that the partnership commenced on 25 March 1886, although the accounts opened on 15 March and the partnership deed was signed on 24 May 1886.
The business was incorporated on 19 September 1900 under the name of Priday, Metford and Company Limited.
There were nine original shareholders (see Later), Priday was elected chairman, with Pearce and Metford being appointed directors.
The buildings
The City Flour Mills originally consisted of one mill building and an office, situated at the Gloucester Docks, close to the Victoria Dock and backing on to Commercial Road. A second building, then known as the New Wheatside but more recently as the Middle Building, was erected around 1854 and contained wheat cleaning equipment. However, in 1888, it was destroyed in a dramatic fire which was reported in the "Gloucestershire Chronicle" and "Gloucester Journal" of 7 January 1888. The fire was spectacular; flames were blown across Commercial Road and sparks reached Bearland. Firemen worked for two days to cool the ruins. Fortunately the premises were insured and they were rebuilt, with new machinery and an automatic sprinkler system. The rooftop water tank which fed this system was a landmark until its removal in 1983.
When the fire was discovered, the alarm was raised by ringing a ship's bell on the North Warehouse. Also known as the Atlas Bell, it has been used as a navigation aid at Shepperdine in the Severn estuary since the 1940s. It is now in the course of being returned by the Gloucester Civic Trust to its original place on the North Warehouse to complement the present renovation of the building by the Gloucester City Council.
Until 1921 the company also milled at St. Owen's Mill, where it produced its stoneground Digestive Wheat Meal and animal feeds until the plant was moved to the North Warehouse. The company made its Hercules brown flour at the North Warehouse which was also used to store and pack flour until the early 1960s when Priday, Metford moved these operations to the Victoria Warehouse.
The main frontage of the Mill has scarcely changed since it was built and is easily recognised in early photographs. However, there have been many alterations, including the removal of the chimney in 1921, the addition of the water tank and, in 1925, the construction of the extraction tower and gantry which carried grain from barges in the Victoria Dock until the 1970s and which still conveys flour to the Victoria Warehouse. The concrete wheat silos were constructed in 1964 and stand where once there were stables for Priday, Metford's heavy horses.
The City Flour Mills are probably the last remaining building at the Gloucester Docks which is still used for the purpose for which it was originally built.