{"id":5717,"date":"2015-05-29T11:57:20","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T10:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/?p=5717"},"modified":"2015-05-29T11:57:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-29T10:57:20","slug":"macfarlane-lang-co-advertising-tape-measure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/2015\/05\/macfarlane-lang-co-advertising-tape-measure\/","title":{"rendered":"Macfarlane Lang &#038; Co advertising tape measure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Around two centimetres square with rounded corners is a tape measure advertising a company called\u00a0Macfarlane Lang &amp; Co which mum has found in her sewing box.<\/p>\n<p>One side is red &amp; features the words Rich Tea\u00a0the other is blue \u00a0with the words Granola digestive biscuits.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5718\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5718\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5718\" src=\"https:\/\/ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Macfarlane Lang &amp; Co Advertising Tape\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-2048x1151.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-590x330.jpg 590w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5718\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Macfarlane Lang &amp; Co Advertising Tape<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 40 inch tape measure pulls out &amp; if you push the little centre button it whizzes back in.<\/p>\n<p>All the way along the tape measure is printed &#8220;GRANOLA&#8221; The finest of all digestive biscuits, \u00a0the other is red and features the measuring scale in Imperial units.<\/p>\n<p>The unusual find got us wondering how old it was and if the company still exists.<\/p>\n<h2>Macfarlane Lang &amp; Co<\/h2>\n<p>Searching the web and other sources it turns out that Macfarlane Lang\u00a0&amp; Co was a very big business based in\u00a0Scotland.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglasgowstory.com\" target=\"_blank\">The Glasgow Story website<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0James Lang opened a shop and bakery in Gallowgate in 1817.<\/p>\n<p>His nephew, John Macfarlane, joined the business and took over when James died.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yMFL5wiVYZM\" width=\"384\" height=\"237\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The firm decided to move into machine-made biscuit manufacturing and opened the Victoria Biscuit Works in 1886. Expansion to London followed, with the opening of the Imperial Biscuit Works in Fulham in 1903.<\/p>\n<p>Macfarlane Lang joined with biscuit manufacturers\u00a0McVitie &amp; Price to form United Biscuits (UB) in 1948.<\/p>\n<p>Curiously United Biscuits, which is now owned by <a href=\"https:\/\/english.yildizholding.com.tr\" target=\"_blank\">Yildiz Holding<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0have a biscuit factory only a few miles away from our home\u00a0in Carlisle.<\/p>\n<p>Yildiz Holding is the world\u2019s third largest biscuit manufacturer and the largest food and beverage company in Turkey with over 320 brands.<\/p>\n<h3>Tape measure<\/h3>\n<p>Although the web has been great to get the history of the company behind the tape measure it has so far failed to offer any insight into why a biscuit company had\u00a0this item branded.<\/p>\n<p>Can you add to the timeline of this curiosity and answer some of the outstanding questions?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Was it a free gift offered in return for coupons?<\/li>\n<li>How old is the tape measure?<\/li>\n<li>How many were made and who made them?<\/li>\n<li>Was it an advertising tool or possible something used in the biscuit production process?<\/li>\n<li>Is the Rich Tea biscuit advertised the same one we can get in the stores today?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Can you help fill in the gaps in the fascinating history? \u00a0Let us know via the comments section below.<\/p>\n<p>Until next time<\/p>\n<p>Licks and wags<\/p>\n<p>Charlie and Rufus<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Around two centimetres square with rounded corners is a tape measure advertising a company called Macfarlane Lang &#038; Co which mum has found in her sewing box.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":5718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[681,6],"tags":[5307,5305,388,5309,5303,4900,5304,5306,5308],"class_list":["post-5717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-gadgets-and-boys-toys","tag-advertising","tag-antique","tag-biscuits","tag-granola","tag-macfarlane-lang","tag-mcvities","tag-tape-measure","tag-victorian","tag-yildiz-holding","entry"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/macfarlane_lang_tape_measure-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/author\/mogsy\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5717"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5725,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5717\/revisions\/5725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ablogfrommydog.com\/contents1a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}