Early years

The company was founded by Joseph Rank in 1875 as flour milling business when he rented a small windmill.^[1] He initially lost money and therefore took a co-tenancy at West's Holderness Corn Mill. In 1885 he built a mechanically-driven flour mill in Hull in order to beat competition from abroad.^[2] He used steel rollers instead of mill stones thereby producing six sacks of flour an hour instead of one and a half. In 1888 he built another steel-roller plant in Lincolnshire, and soon after, built a more modern plant, producing 20 sacks of flour an hour.^[3]

As he strove for greater productivity he installed equipment that produced 30 sacks of flour an hour, and then 40 sacks an hour.^[4] He also set up agencies to distribute his flour in parts of England where it previously had not been sold. In May 1899 the business was incorporated as a private company under the name Joseph Rank Limited.^[5]

In 1902, Joseph Rank made his first trip to the United States to understand and beat his American competitors.^[6] Soon after his trip abroad, the company built mills in London and Cardiff. In 1912, a mill in Birkenhead was built to supply the needs of Ireland and northwestern England. Rank then moved the corporate headquarters of the company from Yorkshire to London.^[7]

During World War II the company employed 3,000 workers, many of them women working while their husbands were away at war. In 1935 Joseph Rank was awarded the Freedom of the City of Hull, in part because of a trust fund he had set up in Hull to help "poor persons of good character."^[8]

During the 1920s, Rank expanded into Scotland and Ireland. He also formed the British Isles Transport Company Limited to facilitate transport of his products around the country. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1933.^[9] In 1943 James Rank became chairman following his father's death.

In 1945 James Rank, the new chairman, assisted by Cecil Loombe, who had become a director, set about rebuilding mills destroyed by bombing, which included the new Baltic Flour Mill at Gateshead, opened in 1950.

In 1952, James Rank was succeeded by his brother J. Arthur Rank as chairman. Arthur explored ways of improving quality control in food production founding RHM Technology and its research centre at High Wycombe.^[10]

Formation of RHM

In 1962 the company acquired the Hovis-McDougall Company, founded in 1957 after the merger of Hovis Bread Flour Company, founded in 1898, and McDougall Brothers, founded in 1864 by Alexander, Isaac, Arthur, John and James Thomas, with its famous Hovis brand of bread and became Rank Hovis McDougall Limited.^[11] In 1968 RHM went on to buy the Cerebos food group, which brought with it a number of popular food brands as well as interests in France, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States and South Africa. In 1969 Arthur's nephew, Joseph Rank, took over the chairmanship of the company.

Joseph Rank encouraged research work in crustacea farming, cereal and seed production, and wheat hybrids. He also pioneered protein production from starch. In 1984 the company established a joint venture with ICI known as Marlow Foods. It was Marlow Foods that created the meat substitute product Quorn.^[12]

In 1979, RHM divested its Canadian business to Campbell Soup Company.^[13]

In 1981 Sir Peter Reynolds took over as chairman from Joseph Rank. The company made a number of important acquisitions during the 1980s in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Far East including the purchase in 1987 of Avana Group, which was renamed Avana Bakeries Limited.^[14]

In 1992 the company was purchased by Tomkins plc who then sold it on to Doughty Hanson & Co in 2000.^[15] The company remained in private equity ownership and sold a number of non-core business, including bakery retail chain Three Cooks. In July 2005 it was relisted on the London Stock Exchange.^[16]

In March 2007, RHM was acquired by Premier Foods for £1.2 billion.^[17] Premier made a loss in 2012 and cut production.^[18]

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