Abram Lyle is noted for founding the sugar refiners Abram Lyle & Sons which merged with the company of his rival Henry Tate to become Tate & Lyle in 1921.
Background
He was born on 14 December 1820 in the seaport of Greenock, Renfrewshire, in Scotland, and at twelve years old became an apprentice in a lawyer"s office. He then joined his father"s cooperage businesses and in partnership with a friend, John Kerr, developed a shipping business, making the Lyle fleet one of the largest in Greenock.
Career
The area was heavily involved in the sugar trade with the West Indies, and his business included transporting sugar. In the first year Lyle"s refinery showed a loss of £30,000, with economies being made by asking staff to wait for their wages on occasion, but eventually the business came to dominate the United Kingdom market for Golden Syrup. Out of the strong came forth sweetness
The brand, sold in a distinctive green and gold lidded tin with an image of a lion surrounded by bees, is believed to be Britain"s oldest.
The design of the tin decoration, which includes a biblical quotation, has remained almost unchanged since 1885.
In the Book of Judges, Samson was travelling to the land of the Philistines in search of a wife. During the journey he killed a lion, and on his return past the same spot he noticed that a swarm of bees had formed a comb of honey in the carcass.
Samson later turned this into a riddle at a wedding: "Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness".(Judges 14:14) While no one is sure why this particular quotation was chosen, it has been suggested that it refers either to the strength of the Lyle company which delivers the sweet syrup or possibly even to the trademark tins in which the syrup was sold. Sugar refineries belonging to Tate & Lyle continued as a major industry in Greenock (but with difficulties) until the 1980s, then declining sugar consumption and a shift away from cane sugar led to closure of the last refinery in 1997.
There is still a sugar warehouse in the town"s Ocean Terminal.