The Snuff Tobacco Reference

The Fribourg-Treyer-Evans Tobacco Concern

Peter Fribourg was a London tobacconist and the proprietor of Number Thirty-Four Haymarket from 17511 until 1780-03, when he sold his enterprise to foreign businessman Gotlieb Augustus Treyer (d. 1812).2 [p. 20] 3 [p. 18] Treyer would trade as Fribourg and Treyer, which was a fiction that apparently would provoke Fribourg to have published the statement: Peter Fribourg, of Epsom, Surrey, late SNUFFMAN and TOBACCONIST, of No. 34 in the Haymarket, near Piccadilly, thinks it necessary to inform the Nobility, Gentry and Public in general, that he has not, nor ever had any connection whatsoever in partnership with Mr. Treyer, who succeeded to the business of the said Shop when Mr. Fribourg retired in 1780.2 [p. 20] 3 [p. 18] Treyer retired from business in 1803, and without heir the business assets were accordingly sold to his wife’s family, the Evans. For the next twelve years a Price Evans managed the firm on behalf of his nephews and the brothers George Evans (1786–1867) and Gotlieb Augustus Treyer Evans (1789–1869), who were then minors but would form a partnership after their majority in 1815, being later joined by a third brother, Richard Lloyd Evans.2 [p. 19] 3 [p. 20] The second Evans generation supplanted the first on 1858-01-01, when Gotlieb Augustus Treyer Evans junior (1818–1899), son of Gotlieb Augustus Treyer Evans, George Augustus Carter Evans (1833–1887), son of George Evans, and Price James Evans (1814–1885), son of John Evans, entered into partnership and took over the business.2 [p. 20] 4 These were in turn displaced in 1899 by a third generation Evans partnership comprised of Augustus Evans (1843–1906), son of Gotlieb Augustus Treyer Evans junior, and George Evans (1867–1921), son of George Augustus Carter Evans.2 [p. 20] Willie Bridgman-Evans (b. 1876), son of Augustus Evans and thus a fourth-generation Evans, at the death of his father in 1906 assumed his place by entering into partnership with George Evans.2 [p. 20] The fifth and what was to be the final Evans generation to control the firm, namely Roy Hervey Bridgman-Evans (d. 1985) and Guy Trevor Bridgman-Evans, succeeded at an unclear date.3 [p. 21] Imperial Group acquired a half share of the business in 1971 which was then incorporated as Fribourg and Treyer Limited,5 and Imperial would acquire the remainder in 1980, both Evans having retired.6 7 The famous Haymarket shop was closed in 1981-12 after two-hundred and thirty years due to an increasingly challenging operating environment.8 Imperial Group subsequently placed the Fribourg and Treyer operation under their subsidiary Joseph and Henry Wilson Limited, who fully assumed snuff tobacco production for the brand.9 10 The manufacture of snuff would later be contracted to Wilsons & Co. (Sharrow) Ltd., who ultimately acquired the Fribourg and Treyer snuff assets from Imperial Group in 2016 (J. Hanson, personal communication, 2023-01-12.)

References

  1. Survey of London. Joint Publishing Committee Representing the London County Council and the London Survey Committee. Volume 20; Page 98. 1940. Digitised version
  2. The Old Snuff House of Fribourg & Treyer. George Evans. 1921. Digitised version
  3. The Snuff Shop. John Arlott. 1974.
  4. The London Gazette. Number 22,147; Issue 1858-06-21. 1858. Digitised version
  5. The Story of Imperial Group Limited. Imperial Group Limited. Page 21. 1979. Digitised version
  6. The London Gazette. Number 48,111; Issue 1980-02-27. 1980. Digitised version
  7. The London Gazette. Number 48,688; Issue 1981-07-23. 1981. Digitised version
  8. Tobacco. Shutting Shop. Jacques Cole. Issue 1982-02; page 26. 1982. Digitised version
  9. Tobacco. Swing Towards Snuff. Sonia Roberts. Issue 1982-05; Pages 13–18. 1982. Digitised version
  10. Tobacco. Recipes for Success. Issue 1983-05; Pages 19–22. 1983. Digitised version