Have
you ever really looked at the picture on the tin? It depicts a dead lion with a swarm of bees
around it. It seems a strange image to
adorn a tin of food, but it would appear that the story behind it comes from
the Bible (Judges 14:5-18) and it's a pretty horrible tale! In the story, Samson kills a lion, the next
time he passes the carcass, a swarm of bees have made a honeycomb in it. He makes up a riddle about this "out of
the strong, something sweet" - and that's why it is on the tin! This trade mark was registered in 1904,
although syrup was first put into tins in 1885.
Lyle
opened a refinery in London, not far from that of his business rival, Henry
Tate (of Tate Gallery fame). The two
companies were joined in 1921 after both men were dead. Thus we have the company of Tate & Lyle,
which had a refinery in Greenock until the 1980s.
So,
the next time you open a tin of syrup or treacle, just remember the story of
the logo and the Greenock connection!
The Greenockian
