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I should also mention that my family were involved in the milk trade from 1924 to 1938. Very briefly my great grandfather was a Wiltshire dairy farmer struggling to make a living in the depression years of the early 1920's. Over production of milk meant that local creameries were paying farmers a pittance for their supplies. My great grandfather and his three sons transported their milk to London where they could get three times the local price. The farm in Wiltshire was retained and a bottling dairy with several depots established at Ladbroke Grove in West London. What is ironic is that I became interested in collecting milk bottles before I was consciously aware of the family's past involvement. It has been suggested that a liquid a whiter shade of red must run through the family blood line! Click here for a close-up of this bottle.

What is really nice is finding bottles from my family's dairy 'Rose's Direct Milk Supply' which turn up from time to time. Most are dug up from the Tilbury Marshes area where the London refuse was taken by barge. I would dearly like to hear of anyone who has, or may come across, any milk bottles embossed with Rose's Direct Milk Supply or Rose's Dairies. All bottles had an insignia. Click here for a close-up of this bottle.

In addition to interesting and unusual milk bottles, I also collect associated items such as cardboard and foil milk bottles caps with interesting slogans, milk tokens, early photos, letter and bill heads, lapel and cap badges, dairy die-cast models, brochures, churns, old crates in fact anything associated with the bottled milk trade.

Mark Hudson Mark can be contacted by email:

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