vue - SUGAR CULTIVATION, REFINING AND MANUFACTURE JAMAICA & UNITED KINGDOM 87094

Made by Britain's esteemed sugar manufacturer Tate and Lyle in 1950, this film shows the growth and processing of sugar cane, from the fields of Jamaica to the factories of London. The film begins with an animated image of Mr Cube (one of the trademarks of the Tate & Lyle Co.), a sugar cube who ushers us on to a journey to the West Indies and in particular, Jamaica. The Monymusk estate, a gigantic sugar plantation is featured, and a brief history of sugar cultivation on the island is presented. Eventually the harvested cane is sent off to the factory, where it is loaded in sacks and transported to England. The film then shifts to the UK and a British commentator, who works at the Tate and Lyle Thames Refinery. The industrial processes are shown - weighing the sugar and taking samples, removing the molasses - and explained, and weighing and packaging the sugar, is shown. The film concludes with shots of the West Indian cane fields, as the commentator celebrates the 'initiative and enterprise' of Britain's sugar manufacturers. Tate and Lyle was formed in 1921 from a merger of two rival sugar refiners, Henry Tate & Sons and Abram Lyle & Sons. Henry Tate established his business in 1869 in Liverpool, later expanding to Silvertown in the East End of London: he used his industrial fortune to found the Tate Gallery in London in 1897, and endowed it with his own collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings. Abram Lyle, a cooper and shipowner, acquired an interest in sugar refinery in 1865 in Greenock, western Scotland and then at Plaistow Wharf, West Silvertown, London. The two companies had large factories nearby each other — Henry Tate in Silvertown and Abram Lyle at Plaistow Wharf — so prompting the merger. Prior to the merger, which occurred after they had died, the two men were bitter business rivals, although they had never met in person. (The Liverpool plant closed in 1981 and the Greenock plant closed during the 1990s, while the Plaistow Wharf and Silvertown plants were sold to American Sugar Refining in 2010). In 1949, the Company introduced its "Mr Cube" brand, as part of a marketing campaign to help it fight a proposed nationalization by the Labour government. In 1976 the Company acquired a 33% stake (increased to 63% in 1988) in Amylum, a European starch-based manufacturing business. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example like: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com