Collections research volunteer Andy Blackwell returns with new research on the history of Cornish butter making, dairy objects, butter markets, and even butter riots.

Anchor butter, an international brand of butter sold across the world, may be the most well-known of butter brands. Did you know that it was all started by a Cornishman? In 1868, 19-year old Cornish dairy farmer Henry Chidley Reynolds migrated with his parents to Aotearoa New Zealand. After several successful years in business, in 1886, Reynolds built a butter factory and Anchor butter (supposedly named after the tattoo on one of his worker’s arms) was born. The same recipe is still in use today although it is now made in the UK and imported [1].

Cornish dairy production

Cornish butter is known for its particularly creamy flavour. Rich and golden, churned from creamy Cornish milk and perhaps seasoned with Cornish sea salt, it’s a classic. Cornwall is ideally suited for the production of quality dairy produce. Its mild and relatively damp climate is excellent for growing good pasture (grass) and great for grazing dairy cattle. 

In fact, in the late 1800s there was a significant shift in Cornwall from arable to dairy farming. This was prompted initially by a dramatic drop in grain prices in the 1870s but was boosted by the Duchy’s particular suitability for pastoral farming. This was further encouraged by the introduction of high-yield Jersey and Guernsey cattle to the area. Improving communications, roads and railways (in particular to Helston, the opening in 1887 of a branch railway link between the town and the Great Western main line) helped still further and enabled the rest of the country to enjoy Cornwall’s fine dairy products.

Barbarian butter eaters

Although there are early accounts of butter in use in southern Europe and the Middle East, historically butter seems to have been more something found in Northern colder climates, rather than the warmer Mediterranean countries where butter would not last well and oils, such as olive oil, were favoured. The Northerners didn’t just cook with it and apparently, spread it on their bread too. Ancient reports suggest they washed with it and even used it on their hair. It seems Greek and Roman writers were rather scornful, referring to these Northern barbarians derogatorily as “butter eaters” [2]. However, as we shall see, butter remained a staple food here well into the 20th century and nearly everybody relied on eating it.

How it’s made

Butter is made by first separating the cream from milk (by skimming – you can see a simple metal cream skimmer in our display, or using a cream separator – a later invention). Then the cream is agitated. This causes the fat membranes to break down and the sticky fat clumps together to form butter. The liquid remaining is buttermilk.

Before the centrifugal cream separator was invented in the late 1800s the milk was left to settle so the cream rose to the surface, leaving the milk below. The cream was then skimmed off. The disadvantage of this process, especially in warmer weather or climates, was that the milk might go sour in the process. In fact, it was this that caused buttermilk to ferment and have its distinct sour flavour.

You can see several items of traditional butter making equipment in the museum (in the Dairy display in the Meat Market gallery), from churning through to preparing it for market. Head to our Farming Collections page for more about the objects and what they were used for.

Cornish butter markets and dairies

Butter making didn’t develop into a major commercial operation until the 18^th and 19^th centuries, particularly with the advent of the railways and better road connections. Clearly there had long been commerce at local level, the butter markets in Cornwall (of which Helston’s own Butter and Egg Market forms the original part of the Museum building) are testament to that. Otherwise butter was predominantly made locally on farms, in great houses, and domestically. 

One very renowned Cornish dairy produce company that is still going strong from its 19^th century beginnings is of course Rodda’s, which is perhaps best known for clotted cream. A big producer from the first half of the 20^th century was the Primrose Dairy at St Erth, which was big enough to even have its own railway rolling stock. It was later taken over by St Ivel, but that too is now closed.

Then there was the Genatosan factory at Stable Hobba near Newlyn, which was a subsidiary of the Sanatogen company. Best known for its tonic foods, this also produced various dairy products. The company was the object of a protest march in 1920, the time of the Cornish Butter Boycott – more about that later. An interesting aside: “Genatosan” is an anagram of “Sanatogen”. Sanatogen was a German invention, however, just after the First World War those with German names and German products faced dislike and suspision as populist anti-German feeling was stoked in response to the war.

Examination of Cornish newspapers from the mid to late 1800s suggests that there was significant butter-making enterprise in Cornwall, for example, notices were regularly posted inviting tenders for the supply of butter to local workhouses. Trade at a national level is evidenced by advertisements inviting bids to supply the London market.

The benefits of competition

These same local newspapers show that butter-making contests were a regular and popular feature at agricultural shows across Cornwall, where the competitors would range from small scale domestic makers to farmers and dairywomen (and men). The Cornish Telegraph of 13 June 13 1889, reporting on the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Show being held at Lower Treneere Helston, declared: “Next in popularity to the hurdle jumping was the butter making…  The tent in which it was carried on was crowded to an almost uncomfortable extent”. (The hurdle jumping was for horses, not people.)

Cornish butter wasn’t held by all in high regard. Reports of the late 1800s suggest that it had improved considerably over the past decades, although the comment about the women involved requires reading in the context of the upper-class male dominated establishment of the time: 

“So much has been said and written about the inferiority of Cornish butter and so vigorous have been the efforts to bring it up to the standard of present day demands…”; “The British agriculturist is nothing if not conservative in his methods, and his ‘women folk’ have in past times done their best to imitate him. But a change has come over the scene and the dairy instead of being the most unprofitable part of the farm will if the improvement continues become the most valuable” [3].

The agricultural show butter-making contests were said to be a contributing factor in this improvement.

The Cornish Butter Boycott of 1920

There had been a government control of 2 shillings and sixpence (12.5 pence in decimal currency) per pound on the price of butter. In 1920 this cap was removed and immediately the price of butter started going up causing a cost of living crisis in the aftermath of the First World War (1914-18) [4].

Across the country people in their thousands started boycotting butter. The West Briton reported: “A determined boycott of butter is being made throughout the country and local trade in Cornwall in this produce is practically at a standstill” [5]

In Cornwall miners protested that butter was unaffordable and they were having to go down the mines without it. Clay workers joined in, as did others. “… men who had fought in the war came home to be starved” [6]. Housewives across the county refused to buy it, or more likely couldn’t afford to buy it.

Cornish workers unite for butter

On 7 February 1920 members of the miners workers union from the Geevor and Levant mines assembled to march to the Genatosan factory. On the way they were joined by workers from Holman’s Foundry at Tregeseal and yet more from the China Clay Works. This thousand-strong body descended on the factory at Stable Hobba where they were met by two officials of the company and a police guard of four officers. The protest was all very civilised and non-violent. It was said that the company took most of the milk from the area, making butter production scarce. They were also accused of profiteering on the sale of butter, but they claimed they only produced butter, at a loss, to meet the Government’s requirement for more cheese and butter production. Fortunately, this protest was settled amicably. Genatosan offered to close dairy production; they only needed the skim milk for the factory, so they would buy the milk from the farmers, skim it and let them have the butter back to sell at the agreed price of 2s 6d.  

Elsewhere though the boycott continued. Sale of butter in towns across the Cornwall dropped to zero. At Helston’s own butter market (now part of the museum building) on Saturday 7 February, the day of the strike, no butter was sold.

Rioting in Redruth

On Friday 27 February Redruth Market was the scene of rather more serious disturbances when a peaceful protest march and demonstration by miners and other local workers union members gave way to rioting and a number of violent and unpleasant incidents [7].

The boycott, protests and of course negotiations went on for several months until early June, when butter finally came down to 2s 6d a pound (newspaper report of prices at Redruth Market) [8]. Today Redruth’s Buttermarket is enjoying a renaissance as a market and food hall.

References:

Historic newspaper references sources from the British Newspaper Archive.

^[1] Cornwall Live, 1 December 2021.

^[2] English Heritage, ‘The History of Butter’, https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/members-magazine/the-history-of-butter/.

^[3] The Cornish Telegraph, 6 June 1895.

^[4] The Cornishman, 11 February 1920; Francis Edwards, ‘The Cornish butter boycott of 1920’, https://the-cornish-historian.com/2023/04/16/the-cornish-butter-boycott-of-1920/.

^[5] West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 12 February 1920.

^[6] The Cornishman, 11 February 1920.

^[7] West Briton, 1 March 1920.

^[8] The Cornishman, 2 June 1920.