Background
Horlick was born in Ruardean in Gloucestershire, England, in 1846, the fourth son and youngest of the nine children of James and Priscilla (Griffiths) Horlick. His father was a saddler by trade.
Horlick was born in Ruardean in Gloucestershire, England, in 1846, the fourth son and youngest of the nine children of James and Priscilla (Griffiths) Horlick. His father was a saddler by trade.
Young William attended schools in the neighborhood and a private boarding school at Candover near Winchester.
After being apprenticed to a harness maker and serving as a shopkeeper for several years, he emigrated in November 1869 to the United States. In 1873 Horlick moved to Chicago where, with his brother James, he began the manufacture of food products. Their first well-known product, J. & W. Horlick's New Food for Infants, Dyspeptics and Invalids, was produced late in 1874 and widely publicized in 1875 and thereafter. It was made by macerating wheat flour and malted barley with water, then removing the water and pulverizing the remaining solid matter. In the process the starch was converted into maltose and dextrine. The Horlicks, supported by some Chicago physicians, claimed that the use of this food would considerably reduce infant mortality because the food was not farinaceous.
Horlick moved his plant to Racine in 1876 to obtain better access to supplies of milk and grain and continued to experiment with new products. In 1887, the year in which he became a naturalized citizen, he registered the trademark "Malted Milk, " under which he marketed a new product composed of a nutritive extract of malted grain combined with cow's milk in powdered form. It was claimed that the substance would "keep indefinitely in any climate, agree with the most delicate stomach, and is instantly prepared for use by dissolving in water only. " The trademark rights to the exclusive use of the term have long since lapsed, but the name has become a part of the language of the English-speaking world.
Horlick developed and marketed other milk and vegetable extracts, but none so widely known as malted milk. In 1889 James Horlick opened a branch of the company in New York City, and in 1890 one in England. Later a plant was erected at Slough, England, which supplied the European and British Empire market. Meanwhile additional plants were constructed in Racine in 1902 and 1905 which reflected Horlick's taste for English architectural style. In 1906 the company, first incorporated in 1878 as Horlick's Food Company, became Horlick's Malted Milk Company. William served as treasurer until 1921 when, on the death of his brother, he assumed the office of president. He continued in active management of the company until his death.
Horlick contributed substantially to various charitable organizations, local hospitals, schools, and youth organizations. He also developed an interest in polar exploration, probably because of the use of malted milk tablets as a concentrated food on such expeditions, and gave financial support to the first Byrd Expedition to the South Pole (Byrd named an Antarctic island in his honor) and the Amundsen Expedition to the North Pole.
He died of heart disease at his home in Racine and was buried there with what was described as the largest funeral in the city's history. He left the bulk of his estate to his wife and three surviving children.
He was an Episcopalian all his life.
He began to list himself as a Republican in the 1920's although he was never active in politics.
He was a full-bearded, reserved man.
In 1870 he married Arabella Rozelia Horlick of Racine, Wis. , whose father, James A. Horlick, had come to Racine from Gloucestershire in 1844.