Object Record
Images
Additional Images [10]
Metadata
Object ID # |
2013.007.001ab |
Object Name |
Box |
Other Name |
Package, Product |
Title |
McLauchlan's Candy Box |
Lexicon category |
5: T&E For Science & Technology |
Date |
Early 20th-century |
Year Range from |
1900 |
Year Range to |
1925 |
Made |
C. R. Somerville (London, Ontario) |
Place of Origin |
Owen Sound, Grey County |
Description |
Two-piece, paper-trimmed cardboard candy box. It is rectangular, and there is a floral pattern of pink and red roses on the printed, textured paper that covers the lid (a). The interior of the lid reads: "McLauchlan's / OWEN SOUND" in black. "2056" is printed inside the lid. The box is damaged and stained. The base is (b). |
Makers mark |
The inside of the lid is printed with ""McLauchlan's / OWEN SOUND". The underside of the base has a pressed maker's mark that is hard to see, but is in two lines, centrally: "C. R. SOMERVILLE / LONDON, ONT." "2056" is printed inside the lid. |
Provenance |
Manufactured by C. R. Somerville in London, Ontario. Dates to the early 20th-century. Belonged to the McLauchlan Biscuit Company of Owen Sound, Grey County. James McLauchlan was a civic-minded and very well-known businessman. He was born in Scotland in 1834. There, he apprenticed making confectionery. He went to Hamilton in 1854, where he worked with a confectioner named John McKillop. In 1854, he walked from Hamilton to Owen Sound in order to examine property. He married Hetty Dillane of Holland Township, Grey County in 1855, and began a baking and confectionery business. In 1857, he left Owen Sound for New Orleans in order to work with E. Turpin and Company, the largest confectioner's business in the south. The American Civil War prompted him to move back to Williamsford, Ontario. He worked in Brantford for five years before re-starting his own confectionery business in Owen Sound, because of its advantageous railroad facilities. He had a partnership with William Anderson until 1876. His five sons eventually became officers of the business, which was called McLauchlan and Sons Company Limited when they incorporated in 1900. James McLauchlan became Mayor of Owen Sound in 1894. He died in February of 1921 and in 1925, the McLauchlan firm was sold to National Grocers. Last owned by the Wellington County Museum and Archives in Fergus, Ontario. |
Collection |
Commercial Equipment Collection |
Material |
Cardboard/Paper/Ink/Glue |
Dimensions |
H-5 W-20 L-9.1 cm |
Found |
Ontario |
People |
McLauchlan, James McLauchlan, George D. McLauchlan, John H. McLauchlan, Joseph Kent McLauchlan, William G. |
Subjects |
Owen Sound Industry Candy Boxes Roses |
Search Terms |
Owen Sound Industries and Products McLauchlan & Sons Company Poulett St. (Owen Sound) |
Function |
Commercial packaging for a confectionery (candy) product. |

