The History and Origins of the Old Paint Company ~ HPG

HISTORY / OVERVIEW

The two companies Lewis Berger & Sons and Jenson & Nicholson continued to expand separately but along almost parallel lines. A number of acquisitions occurred during their individual expansions both in the UK and overseas ~ mainly in Australia, New Zealand, India, Africa, the Caribbean and India. Jenson & Nicholson had made perhaps the biggest acquisition with the purchase of John Hall & Sons in 1948

In the summer of 1960 Lewis Berger & Sons  merged with JENSON & NICHOLSON to form Berger, Jenson & Nicholson [B.J.N.] often referred to as 'The Berger Group of Companies'.

In 1969 B.J.N. purchased British Paints from American Celanese. British Paints were the second biggest marine paint company in the UK. The purchase made the ‘Berger Group’ one of the largest paint groups in the world. The purchase however created a minor problem as one of B.J.N.'s main American licensors were in litigation with Celanese.

Within two years of the purchase of British Paints the B.J.N. group were purchased by Farbewerke Hoechst, who were vying with DuPont as the largest chemical group in the world.

This page is not so much a history of B.J.N. but below listed the companies that came into being during the growth and development  of the B.J.N./Berger Group

This is not a full list and we welcome any additional data and corrections.

Some Berger, Jenson & Nicholson and British Paints are missing from this list.

Where   '??? ' is shown, we do not know the date the company was founded.

B.J.N. COMPANIES

Lewis Berger & Sons Ltd  1760

Jenson & Nicholson Ltd  1821

John Hall & Sons (Bristol) Ltd 1788

The London Paint & Varnish Company ???

British Paints Ltd  ???

Alligator Paints (W.I.) Ltd  ???

Resinous Chemicals (R.C.L.)  ???

W A Rose & Co Ltd, 1917

Berger Jenson & Nicholson Ltd 1960

Berger Traffic Markings Ltd 1947

Berger Elastomers

Lewis Berger (Scotland) Ltd, 1940

Lewis Berger & Sons S.A. 1925

Lewis Berger & Sons of America Ltd 1899

Lewis Berger & Sons (Australia) Pty Ltd 1911

Lewis Berger & Sons (Ireland) Ltd 1936

Lewis Berger & Sons (New Zealand) Ltd 1931

Lewis Berger & Sons (South Africa) Ltd 1921

Lewis Berger & Sons (Ireland) Ltd ???

Lewis Berger & Sons (West Indies) Ltd ???

Lewis Berger & Sons (India) Ltd ???

Lewis Berger & Sons (New Zealand) Ltd ???

Lewis Berger & Sons (Tanzania) Ltd ???

Lewis Berger & Sons (Nigeria) Ltd ???

 Sherwin-Williams (Ireland) Ltd 1935

Sherwin-Williams Co (New Zealand) Ltd 1935

Matex Ltd (later Similpiere Marble Products Ltd) 1920

Wylie’s Cleaners (later Berger Group Supplies) 1910

Conrad W Schmidt (F A Glaeser) 1877.

Spelthorne Metals Ltd ???

Berger Paints [Kenya] Ltd

Berger Paints [Uganda] Ltd

Berger Paints [Tanzania] Ltd

Tintas Berger [Angola] Ltd

British Paints/RCL [Australia] Pty   ???

British Paints/RCL [South Africa]  Ltd  ???

British Paints/RCL [India] Ltd  ???

  British Paints Torpedo Marine[Nigeria] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[South Africa] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[Nigeria] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[New Zealand] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[Holland] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[Eire] Ltd ???

British Paints Torpedo Marine[West Indies] Ltd ???

Aita Syndicate Ltd, 1911;

Algray DIY Ltd 1972;

Allen Davis (Wallpapers) Ltd 1967

Barnes & Sons (previously Ross & Co [Leeds]) Ltd, 1913

Bristow, Wadley & Co Ltd, 1954

Building Supplies (Surbiton) 1945

John Carter ( Paints) Ltd 1953

H Chapell & Co  Ltd, 1934

Cardiff Glazing & Mirror Products Ltd 1946;

C Clifford Ltd, 1954,

Colorbrush Ltd 1925

Cuprinol Ltd 1933

Cuprinol Benelux  ???

Cuprinol Korzite Ltd (Canada)  ???

Frank Hart & Co Ltd 1946;

H C Hitchman Ltd 1938-52;

Hogarth Taxis (Blackall) Ltd 1946

Ernest Hunter (Coxhoe) Ltd 1945

John Hunter Wallpaper Stores Ltd 1971

Direct Paints Ltd, 1970

Harker, Sanders Ltd 1947

Keystone Paint & Varnish Co Ltd, 1941

Lindsley Wallpaper & Hardware Stores Ltd, 1947

The Loanings Property Co Ltd, 1960

MacGregor Wallcoverings Ltd, 1964

C A Martin & Sons Ltd 1939

Masser Paints( Dublin )

P J Mott Gotobed Co Ltd 1961

P G W Holdings Ltd, 1966

Paintcol Ltd (formerly Peter Fisher( Scotland) Ltd), 1954

Pickels Garden Products Ltd (formerly Pickles (Paints) Ltd), 1966

Rainbow Paints (Israel)

Robbialac Portuguesa- Tinatas e decoracoa RL

Ruddlesdens Ltd, 1966

J M Seed (Preston) Ltd, 1973

Selleys Chemical Company (New Zealand )

Selleys Chemical Company (Australia) Pty

Sissons Paints (Eastern) Ltd, 1957

W Symonds Ltd 1931

Tintas Berger (Portugal) Ltd

Tomlinson Proctor Ltd 1957

Topdec LTD (formerly John Handland) Ltd, 1960

Arthur Johnson (Trend) Ltd 1969

Trend (North West) Ltd, 1970

Varden Laboratories Ltd 1941

P M Walker Ltd 1924

Waitell Wallpapers Ltd 1946

Western Wallpapers Ltd, 1946

G Widger & Sons Ltd 1952

J Yeomans Ltd 1950

           Additional information to the history of B.J.N. [Berger,Jenson & Nicholson ]... [BERGER GROUP] is most welcome.

Note: there is a huge amount of information on Lewis Berger and Sons Ltd kept in the Hackney Archives

covering board meeting, brochures, recipe books, sales, union meetings, etc.