How did HP sauce come to be so called?!

good question.

HP Sauce was invented and developed by Frederick Gibson Garton, a grocer from Nottingham. He registered the name H.P. Sauce in 1896. Garton called the sauce HP because he had heard that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it.

Garton sold the recipe and HP brand for the sum of ￡150 and the settlement of some unpaid bills to Edwin Samson Moore. Moore, the founder of the Midlands Vinegar Company (the forerunner of HP Foods) subsequently launched HP Sauce in 1903.

In June 2005, Heinz purchased the parent company, HP Foods, from Danone. In October of that year the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading referred the takeover to the Competition Commission, who gave the go-ahead for the ￡440 million acquisition in April 2006.

In May 2006, Heinz announced plans to switch production of HP Sauce from Aston to its European sauces facility in Elst, the Netherlands, ironically only weeks after HP launched a campaign to "Save the Proper British Cafe". The announcement prompted a call to boycott Heinz products.

It big competition, Daddies Favourite, was first launched in 1904, are also now owned by H. J. Heinz Company, having been bought as part of the acquisition of HP Foods from previous owner Groupe Danone in 2005, who brougth up the name in 1980.

HP Sauce has an impressively exotic ingredients list that includes dates and tamarind extract. I can't discover if it is true, but I suspect that Garton had tried Jamacian Jerk spices, and adapted the marinade into a sauce. Garton sold the recipe in order to pay off an outstanding debt to the company from which he bought his malt vinegar, and the rest is history. With the rise of the middle classes in Edwardian England, most modest households lacked the means to undertake the time-consuming process of making chutneys and relishes, that the victorians had done.

in 1900 - New spices from the far east were fast become increasingly available as shipping methods improved along with newly established trade routes. Spices from India were also made popular by people returning to England from the colonies. Edwin Samson was convinced the time was ripe for a new popular sauce.

Mary Samson was tasked with creating a new sauce and went to work with some of the new and exotic Indian spices. One issue remained – what to call it? Try as he might, Samson could not come up with a suitable name. His son Eddie too suggested name after name, but none seemed right.

As a businessman, Edwin Samson understood that the correct name is crucial to building a brand. This task however was soon relegated to his spare time, as the daily routine of running a business had to take precedence. It was during one of his collection routines from a local grocer which was destined to change everything.

Edwin Samson & Eddie set out to pay a visit to the grocer F. G. Garton in Nottingham who had over time, run up a vinegar debt with the firm. Eddie who, now having served 10 years at the firm and now travelled with his father on such runs. Mr Garton’s shop however had been struggling. In order to make ends meet, he would go about the streets in the evening selling groceries and his home-made sauce from a basket cart.

Samson & Eddie entered the grocery and were escorted to the back to discuss Mr Garton’s vinegar debt while Mrs Garton stayed in front to mind the shop. It was there that Samson spotted Mr Garton’s basket cart in the garden. Upon it was a board with the crudely painted letters “Garton’s H.P. Sauce. Samson instantly realized that his search was at an end! The new sauce was to be called H.P.! They quickly settled Mr. Garton’s debt and purchased the name and recipe for a sum of ￡150 then hurrying home, excited with their discovery.

The recipie created by his wife Mary was similar, but sold as HP Brown sauce at a later date.

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It's because when it was first brought out people couldn't afford to buy it, so they had to get it on HP.

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i don't know but i like it on my chips so why don't they put in fish shops i know they used o put it on meat in the olden days mix it with gravy and stuff but i no so many people who like brown more than red so why not put it i fish shop any way hp might be the queens posh sauce or summit

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good answer david c, mind of information

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The original recipe for HP Sauce was invented and developed by Frederick Gibson Garton, a grocer from Nottingham. He registered the name H.P. Sauce in 1896. Garton called the sauce HP because he had heard that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it. For many years the bottle labels have carried a picture of the Palace of Westminster. Garton sold the recipe and HP brand for the sum of ￡150 and the settlement of some unpaid bills to Edwin Samson Moore. Moore, the founder of the Midlands Vinegar Company (the forerunner of HP Foods) subsequently launched HP Sauce in 1903.

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It's because it's the favourite sauce of Harry Potter.

My goodness DAVID C, you really know your onions when it comes to HP sauce, did you take a university course about it, hehe.

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Hp stands for:- half poo because it half made of poo

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Used to be called Houses of Parliament sauce - had the description on the side in both English and French - Cette sauce de haute qualite ..... helped me pass my O level French

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Houses of Parliament

now made in Holland since Danone decided to close the factory in Birmingham

i'm in China and we are still buying the old 'made in birmingham' one - lovely

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Write to them

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HP Sauce was given the name H.P. Sauce in 1896. Garton called the sauce HP because he had heard that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it. For many years the bottle labels have carried a picture of the Palace of Westminster.

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