1849 — London, 28 November 1849. Manuscript Signed Letter to approbate the cocoa served by the Royal Navy to its nearly 200,000 mariners, written by important Scottish chemist Andrew Ure. 8vo. Double-leaf measuring approximately 18.5 x 17 cm. Very good, original condition. A most unusual document of unexpected consequence. Together with a privately printed biography published in London 1874, featuring an original albumen portrait photograph frontis of Dr. Ure. Small 8vo. measuring 10.5 x 14.5 cm. 18, [3] pages, giltedged leafs, gilt tooled and titled green leather boards, minor wear to corners, otherwise in Very Good condition. The favourable result from a formal investigation of a specific company's cocoa purchased and consumed by the British Navy at 400 tonnes per year, Dr. Ure suggests that many English producers were at the time compromising quality during production, however, he confirms the purity of Graham & Hedley's Genuine Roll Cocoa which was manufactured in Liverpool. A new product, the cacao was moulded into rolls and stamped. For a fee of £10.10 and commissioned by the Lords of the Admiralty [Sir James Whitley Deans Dundas, &c.], this analysis may very well have secured enormous profitability and longevity for the chocolate company. Competitors immediately denounced the assessment, such as Taylor Brothers for example, whom stated that public preference or 'taste test' was all that truly mattered. Evidently significant not only to the Navy, but also to the public as a whole, Ure's letter was published in the "Law Times" volume 15, 1850. Subsequently, numerous publications touted Graham & Hedley's product as "the best preparation of cocoa for morning and evening meals.... advantageous for invalids to whom it is essential to have the article genuine... the most economical substance offered to the public... superior homeopathic cocoa..." and so on. Excerpt from the letter: "Having been employed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to analyze and improve the Cocoa and Chocolate of which 400 tonnes are annually manufactured for Navy at the Deptford Victualling Yard... " "I take pleasure in testifying that the Roll Cocoa of Messrs Graham & Hedley of Liverpool is perfectly pure, and so well prepared as to afford with hot water or milk, a bland, aromatic, salubrious, and highly nutritious an article of diet." End Excerpts. The letter is accompanied by a rare biographical sketch which commemorates Dr. Ure's important works, a lovely volume printed for private distribution only. Excerpts from the book: "... To Dr. Ure belongs the honour of having taken the lead in a movement which has had incalculable power in developing national wealth... In 1809, when the Glasgow Observatory was about to be established, Dr. Ure came to London, commissioned to make the scientific arrangements. Here he met, and acquired the friendship of Maskelyne, Pond, Groombridge, and other Astronomers, and also of Davy, Wollaston, Henry, and other distinguished chemists of that day... in London... appointed in 1834, Chemist to the Board of Customs... important researches on sugar refining... his skill and accuracy as an analytic chemist were well known, as well as the ingenuity of the means employed in his researches..." Dr. Andrew Ure (1778-1857) was a Scottish physician, analytical chemist, and a highly respected professor of chemistry. A foremost (possibly the first) consulting chemist in Britain, doing much work in London where he settled in 1830, his work entailed investigative tours of several industries in England, Belgium and France, various government commissions such as the one outlined above, and speaking as an expert witness. His visits to English textile mills led to his famous publications of "The Philosophy of Manufactures" (1835) and "The Cotton Manufactures of Great Britain" (1836). His exposure to factory conditions led him to consider methods of heating and ventilation, and he is credited with being the first to describe a bi-metallic thermostat. "The Great Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines" (1837), was Ure's chief and most encyclopaedic work. In 1840 he helped found the Pharmaceutical Society. The Board of Commissioners for the Victualling of the Navy, often called the Victualling Commissioners or Victualling Board, was for 150 years the body responsible under the Navy Board for victualling ships of the British Royal Navy. It oversaw the vast operation of providing serving naval personnel (140,000 men in 1810) with enough food, drink and supplies to keep them fighting fit, sometimes for months at a time, in whatever part of the globe they might be stationed. It was in 1795 that Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol employed a steam engine to grind cocoa beans, which led to the manufacture of chocolate on a large scale. By 1825 the Royal Navy purchased more cocoa than for the rest of Britain. It was considered perfectly nutritious beverage for sailors on watch duty, being hot and non-alcoholic was of further benefit. Sailors in the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltic Sea coined the term "chocolate gale" in reference to the cold wind from the northwest, which ultimately granted them the comforting treat. By the nineteenth century chocolate was being tested for commercial distribution as a "homeopathic" and "dietetic" product. According to Hassall's survey of British made chocolate, producers of homeopathic chocolates included Graham & Hedley, Taylor Brothers, Leaths, J.S. Fry & Sons, Cadbury, Barry and Company, Epps' and others. Manuscript
