113-760: Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc ) is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol , England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International , British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers . Imperial Brands has 30 factories worldwide and its products are sold in around 120 countries. Its brands include Davidoff , West , Golden Virginia , Drum and Rizla . Imperial Brands also have expanded their product range in recent years to include alternative nicotine products, including
226-418: A biotech interest, a UK -based hybrid pig breeder which supplied live boars to pig farmers. The pig breeder, Pig Improvement Company, incorporated in 1962 would make very strong growth towards the very end of the 20th century. As the new heart of the old Dalgety business, an international pig and now also a shrimp breeder, PIC merged in 2005 with another biotechnology leader, cattle breeder Genus plc . At
339-458: A Goidelic language, Manx . Northern Scotland mainly spoke Pritennic , which became Pictish , which may have been a Brythonic language. During the period of the Roman occupation of Southern Britain (AD 43 to c. 410 ), Common Brythonic borrowed a large stock of Latin words. Approximately 800 of these Latin loan-words have survived in the three modern Brythonic languages. Romano-British
452-653: A San Francisco-based import-export and insurance business owning a Canadian business in wholesale lumber and a Californian business growing poultry . In 1974 Balfour Guthrie bought Spiegel Frozen Foods In Salinas California which harvested and froze "own brand" vegetables. In 1968 Dalgety acquired one of the largest potato marketing organisations in Britain and in 1969 a pastoral property business, New Zealand and Australian Land Limited, by exchange of shares. In 1970 Dalgety set up joint ventures with Tata and Consolidated Goldfields but most significantly of all acquired
565-573: A bidder for the business might come along. In August Dalgety announced the purchase of South Australian vineyards with a liquor distribution business and BDH an electrical appliance manufacturer. USA poultry operations were phased out after substantial losses. Late in 1972 Dalgety made a successful take-over bid for Associated British Maltsters. Profits rebounded in 1973; Australia contributed £5.34 million and New Zealand £4.7 million. The Dalgety rural division in Western Australia
678-589: A collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain , the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia . The earliest known name for Great Britain is Albion ( Greek : Ἀλβιών ) or insula Albionum , from either the Latin albus meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of Dover ,
791-456: A common ancestral language termed Brittonic , British , Common Brythonic , Old Brythonic or Proto-Brythonic , which is thought to have developed from Proto-Celtic or early Insular Celtic by the 6th century AD. Brythonic languages were probably spoken before the Roman invasion at least in the majority of Great Britain south of the rivers Forth and Clyde , though the Isle of Man later had
904-582: A debt-for-equity swap. Ownership passed to Wesfarmers Limited in 1993. Wesfamers was renamed Wesfarmers Dalgety in 2000 when the two businesses were rolled into one but the Dalgety name was dropped the following year. Dalgety announced in August 1983 purchase of the animal feeds, seeds and crop control businesses of the agricultural division of Ranks Hovis McDougall . At the time it was almost Dalgety's most expensive purchase second only to Spillers. Dalgety
1017-545: A dispute over pension payments to employees, as seen in Imperial Group Pension Trust Ltd v Imperial Tobacco Ltd . In 1996, following a decision to concentrate on core tobacco activities, Hanson de-merged Imperial and it was listed as an independent company on the UK stock exchange. In 2003, Imperial acquired the world's then fourth-largest tobacco company, Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH of Germany:
1130-453: A marriage between Cecily , daughter of Edward IV of England , and James , son of James III of Scotland , which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". The Scottish philosopher and historian, John Major (Mair), published his 'History of Great Britain, both England and Scotland' ( Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae ) in 1521. While promoting a possible royal match in 1548, Lord Protector Somerset said that
1243-453: A new firm which he soon bought. By 1848 Dalgety was an independent and well-to-do merchant concentrating on the settlers' trade providing merchandise for the squatters and buying their produce. He visited England in 1849 to strengthen his facilities for both credit and the disposal of colonial produce and returned to Victoria in 1851. In the 1851 gold rush Dalgety continued with general business, enlarged his pastoral trade, sold merchandise to
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#17327810907731356-487: A newly formed subsidiary named Imperial Tobacco Limited. In 1986, the company was acquired by the conglomerate Hanson Trust plc for £2.5 billion. Divestments during the period of ownership by Hanson included Courage Brewery to Elders , Golden Wonder to Dalgety , Finlays to Arunbhai J. Patel, the wholesaling arm of Sinclair & Collis to Palmer & Harvey, Imperial Hotels and Catering to Trust House Forte and Ross Frozen Foods to United Biscuits . This also led to
1469-583: A peninsular extension of mainland Europe until catastrophic flooding between then and 130,000 years ago resulted in the creation of the English Channel and Britain becoming an island during warm interglacial periods like the Last Interglacial/Eemian (130–115,000 years ago), though it remained connected to mainland Europe during glacial periods when sea levels were low. Archaic humans repeatedly occupied Britain before abandoning
1582-777: A result of this eventful geological history, the island shows a rich variety of landscapes . The oldest rocks in Great Britain are the Lewisian gneisses , metamorphic rocks found in the far north west of the island and in the Hebrides (with a few small outcrops elsewhere), which date from at least 2,700 My ago. South of the gneisses are a complex mixture of rocks forming the North West Highlands and Grampian Highlands in Scotland. These are essentially
1695-699: A similar sense to fauna, and for similar reasons, the flora consists of fewer species compared to much larger continental Europe. The flora comprises 3,354 vascular plant species, of which 2,297 are native and 1,057 have been introduced. The island has a wide variety of trees , including native species of birch , beech , ash , hawthorn , elm , oak , yew , pine , cherry and apple . Other trees have been naturalised, introduced especially from other parts of Europe (particularly Norway) and North America. Introduced trees include several varieties of pine, chestnut , maple , spruce , sycamore and fir , as well as cherry plum and pear trees . The tallest species are
1808-817: A subsidiary, Imperial Brands Ventures, took a stake in Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies which is licensed by the UK government to develop cannabis-based medicines. In November 2019, after searching for a new chairman since February, the company announced its senior independent director Thérèse Esperdy would take the role. In July 2020, Stefan Bomhard , the former chief executive of global automotive distributor Inchcape and former president of Bacardi Europe , became chief executive of Imperial Brands. In 2021, Imperial Brands opened an office in Hammersmith, West London. In 2021 Imperial Brands launched
1921-401: A very extended period of time. Changing latitude and sea levels have been important factors in the nature of sedimentary sequences, whilst successive continental collisions have affected its geological structure with major faulting and folding being a legacy of each orogeny (mountain-building period), often associated with volcanic activity and the metamorphism of existing rock sequences. As
2034-677: Is G. On the Internet, .uk is the country code top-level domain for the United Kingdom. A .gb top-level domain was used to a limited extent, but is now deprecated; although existing registrations still exist (mainly by government organizations and email providers), the domain name registrar will not take new registrations. In the Olympics, Team GB is used by the British Olympic Association to represent
2147-743: Is also more than 1000 species of bryophyte including algae and mosses across the island. The currently known species include 767 mosses, 298 liverworts and 4 hornworts . There are many species of fungi including lichen -forming species, and the mycobiota is less poorly known than in many other parts of the world. The most recent checklist of Basidiomycota (bracket fungi, jelly fungi, mushrooms and toadstools, puffballs, rusts and smuts), published in 2005, accepts over 3600 species. The most recent checklist of Ascomycota (cup fungi and their allies, including most lichen-forming fungi), published in 1985, accepts another 5100 species. These two lists did not include conidial fungi (fungi mostly with affinities in
2260-578: Is merely one of a number of fibres which apparel makers can choose to use in their garments, and that demand for wool depends significantly on the relative prices of substitute fibres, particularly the high quality but cheap synthetic fibres being produced today." In 1998 synthetics provided 49 per cent of apparel fibres, cotton 42 per cent, cellulosic 5 per cent and wool only 3 per cent. In December 1842 Canadian Frederick Gonnerman Dalgety arrived in Melbourne , first settled in August 1835, as manager of
2373-679: Is now owned, and has been renovated by, Measurement Incorporated . Whereas American Tobacco sold its share of BAT in 1911, a divesture prompted by Supreme Court rulings in an anti-trust case, Imperial maintained an interest in British American Tobacco until 1980. In 1973, the Imperial Tobacco Company, having become increasingly diversified by acquisition of (amongst others) restaurant chains, food services and distribution businesses, changed its name to Imperial Group while tobacco products continued to be sold by
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#17327810907732486-463: Is subject to continuing urbanisation , which have contributed towards the overall loss of species. A DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) study from 2006 suggested that 100 species have become extinct in the UK during the 20th century, about 100 times the background extinction rate . However, some species, such as the brown rat , red fox , and introduced grey squirrel , are well adapted to urban areas. Rodents make up 40% of
2599-898: Is the capital city of Scotland , and is the seat of the Scottish Government as well as the highest courts in Scotland . The Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Cardiff is the capital city of Wales , and is the seat of the Welsh Government . In the Late Bronze Age, Britain was part of a culture called the Atlantic Bronze Age , held together by maritime trading, which also included Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. In contrast to
2712-598: Is the largest denomination in Wales . There are other non-conformist minorities, such as Baptists , Quakers , the United Reformed Church (a union of Congregationalists and English Presbyterians ), Unitarians . The first patron saint of Great Britain was Saint Alban . He was the first Christian martyr dating from the Romano-British period, condemned to death for his faith and sacrificed to
2825-465: Is the largest of the British Isles , the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world . It is dominated by a maritime climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. The island of Ireland , with an area 40 per cent that of Great Britain, is to the west – these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands and named substantial rocks , comprise
2938-529: Is the largest species, with roe deer and fallow deer also prominent; the latter was introduced by the Normans . Sika deer and two more species of smaller deer, muntjac and Chinese water deer , have been introduced, muntjac becoming widespread in England and parts of Wales while Chinese water deer are restricted mainly to East Anglia. Habitat loss has affected many species. Extinct large mammals include
3051-791: Is the name for the Latinised form of the language used by Roman authors. British English is spoken in the present day across the island, and developed from the Old English brought to the island by Anglo-Saxon settlers from the mid 5th century. Some 1.5 million people speak Scots —which was indigenous language of Scotland and has become closer to English over centuries. An estimated 700,000 people speak Welsh , an official language in Wales . In parts of north west Scotland, Scottish Gaelic remains widely spoken. There are various regional dialects of English, and numerous languages spoken by some immigrant populations. Christianity has been
3164-473: The British Olympic team . The Olympic Federation of Ireland represents the whole island of Ireland , and Northern Irish sportspeople may choose to compete for either team, most choosing to represent Ireland. Politically, Great Britain refers to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales in combination, but not Northern Ireland ; it includes islands, such as the Isle of Wight , Anglesey ,
3277-824: The Celtic languages to the island. During the Iron Age , Britain was inhabited by various different Celtic tribes . The Romans conquered most of the island (up to Hadrian's Wall in northern England) and this became the Ancient Roman province of Britannia . In the course of the 500 years after the Roman Empire fell, the Britons of the south and east of the island were assimilated or displaced by invading Germanic tribes ( Angles , Saxons , and Jutes , often referred to collectively as Anglo-Saxons ). At about
3390-957: The Douglas firs ; two specimens have been recorded measuring 65 metres or 212 feet. The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire is the oldest tree in Europe. There are at least 1,500 different species of wildflower . Some 107 species are particularly rare or vulnerable and are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 . It is illegal to uproot any wildflowers without the landowner's permission. A vote in 2002 nominated various wildflowers to represent specific counties. These include red poppies , bluebells , daisies , daffodils , rosemary , gorse , iris , ivy , mint , orchids , brambles , thistles , buttercups , primrose , thyme , tulips , violets , cowslip , heather and many more. There
3503-522: The Gregorian mission . It was the main religion for around a thousand years. There are over 5 million adherents today, 4.5 million Catholics in England and Wales and 750,000 in Scotland , although fewer than a million Catholics regularly attend mass . The Church of Scotland , a form of Protestantism with a Presbyterian system of ecclesiastical polity , is the third most numerous on
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3616-477: The Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia . Judaism figured slightly more than Buddhism at the 2011 census, having 263,000 adherents (excluding Scotland's about 6000). Jews have inhabited Britain since 1070. However, those resident and open about their religion were expelled from England in 1290, replicated in some other Catholic countries of the era. Jews were permitted to re-establish settlement as of 1656, in
3729-574: The Isles of Scilly , the Hebrides and the island groups of Orkney and Shetland , that are part of England, Wales, or Scotland. It does not include the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands . The political union which joined the kingdoms of England and Scotland occurred in 1707 when the Acts of Union ratified the 1706 Treaty of Union and merged the parliaments of the two nations, forming
3842-662: The Kingdom of Great Britain , which covered the entire island. Before this, a personal union had existed between these two countries since the 1603 Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland and I of England . The oldest evidence for archaic humans in Britain are the Happisburgh footprints and associated stone tools found in Norfolk , dating to around 950–850,000 years ago. Prior to 450,000 years ago, Britain formed
3955-599: The Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten (also Breoton-lond, Breten-lond ). Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the travel writings of Pytheas around 320 BC, which described various islands in the North Atlantic as far north as Thule (probably Norway ). The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called
4068-585: The Privy Council of England was drafting the proclamation of the new king, Charles I, a Scottish peer, Thomas Erskine, 1st Earl of Kellie , succeeded in insisting that it use the phrase "King of Great Britain", which James had preferred, rather than King of Scotland and England (or vice versa). While that title was also used by some of James's successors, England and Scotland each remained legally separate countries, each with its own parliament, until 1707, when each parliament passed an Act of Union to ratify
4181-458: The Treaty of Union that had been agreed the previous year. This created a single kingdom with one parliament with effect from 1 May 1707. The Treaty of Union specified the name of the new all-island state as "Great Britain", while describing it as "One Kingdom" and "the United Kingdom". To most historians, therefore, the all-island state that existed between 1707 and 1800 is either "Great Britain" or
4294-684: The blu vape brand , the Pulze and iD heated tobacco system, and the Zone X and Skruf nicotine pouches. Imperial Brands is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . Imperial Tobacco Canada , the Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco , has no relationship to Imperial Brands. The Imperial Tobacco Company was created in 1901, in response to
4407-433: The brown bear , grey wolf and wild boar ; the latter has had a limited reintroduction in recent times. There is a wealth of birdlife , with 628 species recorded, of which 258 breed on the island or remain during winter. Because of its mild winters for its latitude, Great Britain hosts important numbers of many wintering species, particularly waders , ducks , geese and swans . Other well known bird species include
4520-520: The golden eagle , grey heron , common kingfisher , common wood pigeon , house sparrow , European robin , grey partridge , and various species of crow , finch , gull , auk , grouse , owl and falcon . There are six species of reptile on the island; three snakes and three lizards including the legless slowworm . One snake, the adder , is venomous but rarely deadly. Amphibians present are frogs , toads and newts . There are also several introduced species of reptile and amphibian. In
4633-548: The mammal species . These include squirrels , mice , voles , rats and the recently reintroduced European beaver . There is also an abundance of European rabbit , European hare , shrews , European mole and several species of bat . Carnivorous mammals include the red fox , Eurasian badger , Eurasian otter , weasel , stoat and elusive Scottish wildcat . Various species of seal , whale and dolphin are found on or around British shores and coastlines. The largest land-based wild animals today are deer . The red deer
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4746-525: The pagan gods . In more recent times, some have suggested the adoption of St Aidan as another patron saint of Britain. From Ireland, he worked at Iona amongst the Dál Riata and then Lindisfarne where he restored Christianity to Northumbria . The three constituent countries of the United Kingdom have patron saints: Saint George and Saint Andrew are represented in the flags of England and Scotland respectively. These two flags combined to form
4859-716: The " Kingdom of Great Britain ". Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf, part of the Eurasian Plate and off the north-west coast of continental Europe , separated from this European mainland by the North Sea and by the English Channel , which narrows to 34 km (18 nmi; 21 mi) at the Straits of Dover . It stretches over about ten degrees of latitude on its longer, north–south axis and covers 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), excluding
4972-751: The 1880s. Dalgety and Company Limited continued to grow after its founder died. In July 1898 an agreement was reached with the Russian consul in Melbourne for the use of Russian ships to transport wool from Australia to Europe. By 1909 there were branches at Melbourne and Geelong; Sydney and Newcastle; Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville; Adelaide; Perth, Fremantle, Kalgoorlie, Albany, Geraldton and Carnarvon; and in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier and Wellington. In 1927 operations were broadened to include East Africa and then in 1959, by exchange of shares,
5085-591: The 67 per cent owned New Zealand business, its 1976 profit was £5.3 million, was inherently more profitable than Australia's. Dalgety paid £10 million for Federated Chemical Holdings (without its minority shareholding in Tioxide Group ) at the end of 1977 because it would fit well with the procurements as well as with marketing the products of their ABM Chemicals. Federated was a distributor of chemicals and allied raw materials in North America, Europe and
5198-602: The Angles. Germanic speakers referred to Britons as Welsh . This term came to be applied exclusively to the inhabitants of what is now Wales, but it also survives in names such as Wallace and in the second syllable of Cornwall . Cymry , a name the Britons used to describe themselves, is similarly restricted in modern Welsh to people from Wales, but also survives in English in the place name of Cumbria . The Britons living in
5311-560: The Ascomycota but known only in their asexual state) or any of the other main fungal groups (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and Zygomycota). The number of fungal species known very probably exceeds 10,000. There is widespread agreement among mycologists that many others are yet to be discovered. London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom as a whole, and is the seat of the United Kingdom's government . Edinburgh
5424-566: The British Isles archipelago . Connected to mainland Europe until 9,000 years ago by a landbridge now known as Doggerland , Great Britain has been inhabited by modern humans for around 30,000 years. In 2011, it had a population of about 61 million , making it the world's third-most-populous island after Honshu in Japan and Java in Indonesia , and the most populated island outside of Asia . The term "Great Britain" can also refer to
5537-677: The Church is the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Supreme Governor . It has the status of established church in England. There are just over 26 million adherents to Anglicanism in Britain today, although only around one million regularly attend services. The second largest Christian practice is the Latin Church of the Catholic Church , which traces its history to the 6th century with Augustine of Canterbury and
5650-410: The English and Scots were, "like as twoo brethren of one Islande of great Britaynes again." In 1604, James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland". Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain. Politically, it may refer to the whole of England , Scotland and Wales , including their smaller offshore islands. It is not technically correct to use
5763-491: The Far East. At the end of 1978 Dalgety raised a total of $ 125 million by a rights issue to existing shareholders and through a ten-year borrowing facility arranged by Lazard Brothers and it launched a bid for Spillers , a flour milling , bread, pet food and animal feeds business. The planned takeover was strongly defended and an agreement between parties not settled until a year later. Spillers closed 23 bakeries with
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#17327810907735876-584: The John Player and Sons collections (main ref. DD/PL). The archives at Liverpool Central Library hold records of the Ogden Branch (Ref. 380 OGD). The company's brands include: The Nottingham factory and the group's French factory in Nantes closed in 2016, with production moved to Eastern Europe. In May 2022, The Times reported that the company had lobbied politicians in Scotland. Ivan McKee ,
5989-455: The London area sinking at double this partly due to the continuing compaction of the recent clay deposits. Animal diversity is modest, as a result of factors including the island's small land area, the relatively recent age of the habitats developed since the last glacial period and the island's physical separation from continental Europe , and the effects of seasonal variability. Great Britain also experienced early industrialisation and
6102-735: The Lorillard operations being acquired would be called ITG Brands LLC . The deal with Lorillard was completed on 12 June 2015, and as part of the deal, Greensboro became the location of the ITG headquarters. On 1 November 2018, ITG announced production would move from the former American Tobacco Company plant in Reidsville, North Carolina , built in 1892, and later expanded, to Greensboro by 2020. The plant made USA Gold , Sonoma, Montclair and Rave. In February 2016, Imperial changed its name to "Imperial Brands" to distance itself from tobacco. In 2018,
6215-442: The New York Times Dalgety had made itself USA's second largest processor of frozen foods behind United Brands . By 1979 The shift to the Northern Hemisphere was nearing completion. 22 per cent of Dalgety's business was in North America and 35 per cent in Britain. Dalgety Australia, the Australian activities of Dalgety plc, agreed in July 1983 to merge with Bennetts Farmers and Farmers Grazcos Co-operative forming Dalgety Farmers,
6328-575: The Pulze and iD heated tobacco system in selected European markets. The company has also launched Zone X, an oral nicotine brand, in several European countries. In 2022 and 2023, Imperial Brands launched blu 2.0, an upgrade to its blu vaping device, in the UK and several other countries. The principal companies involved in setting up Imperial Tobacco were W. D. & H. O. Wills Limited and John Player & Sons of Nottingham . Bristol Archives holds extensive records of W D & H O Wills and Imperial Tobacco (Ref. 38169). Nottinghamshire Archives hold
6441-435: The Second World War but as the war ended it was found the UK government held 10.4 million bales. In conjunction with officials from Australia New Zealand and South Africa a joint arrangement was made in 1945 to ensure its orderly sale and the sale was completed in 1951. Later the same year American demand generated by the outbreak of the Korean War pulled wool prices up to nine times the UK contract price of five years earlier but
6554-405: The UK government yearbooks have used both Britain and United Kingdom . GB and GBR are used instead of UK in some international codes to refer to the United Kingdom, including the Universal Postal Union , international sports teams, NATO , and the International Organization for Standardization country codes ISO 3166-2 and ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 , whilst the aircraft registration prefix
6667-431: The area during cooler periods. Modern humans arrived in Britain about 40,000 years ago, as evidenced by remains found in Kents Cavern in Devon, following the disappearance of Neanderthals . Prior to 9,000 years ago Britain retained a land connection to the continent, with an area of mostly low marshland ( Doggerland ) joining it to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands . During the Mesolithic period, Britain
6780-402: The areas now known as Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall were not assimilated by the Germanic tribes, a fact reflected in the survival of Celtic languages in these areas into more recent times. At the time of the Germanic invasion of southern Britain , many Britons emigrated to the area now known as Brittany , where Breton , a Celtic language closely related to Welsh and Cornish and descended from
6893-600: The basis of the Great Britain royal flag of 1604. Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. There are many other British saints. Some of the best known are Cuthbert , Columba , Patrick , Margaret , Edward the Confessor , Mungo , Thomas More , Petroc , Bede , and Thomas Becket . Numerous other religions are practised. The 2011 census recorded that Islam had around 2.7 million adherents (excluding Scotland with about 76,000). More than 1.4 million people (excluding Scotland's about 38,000) believe in Hinduism , Sikhism , or Buddhism —religions that developed in
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#17327810907737006-425: The bed of the North Sea was dry and acted as a land bridge, now known as Doggerland , to the Continent. It is generally thought that as sea levels gradually rose after the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age, Doggerland reflooded cutting off what was the British peninsula from the European mainland by around 6500 BC. Great Britain has been subject to a variety of plate tectonic processes over
7119-437: The breaching of the Weald-Artois Anticline , a ridge that held back a large proglacial lake , now submerged under the North Sea. Around 10,000 years ago, during the Devensian glaciation with its lower sea level , Great Britain was not an island, but an upland region of continental north-western Europe, lying partially underneath the Eurasian ice sheet. The sea level was about 120 metres (390 ft) lower than today, and
7232-457: The closure of its long-running Horizon factory in Nottingham . The factory closed in 2016, marking the end of cigarette production in England. On 15 July 2014, Reynolds American agreed to buy Greensboro, North Carolina –based Lorillard Tobacco Company , for $ 27.4 billion. The deal also included the sale of the Kool , Winston , Salem , and blu eCigs brands to Imperial for $ 7.1 billion. In November 2014, Imperial said Commonwealth-Altadis and
7345-503: The deal added brands such as Davidoff , Peter Stuyvesant , and West to its portfolio. In 2007, Imperial Tobacco entered the United States tobacco market with its $ 1.9-billion acquisition of Commonwealth Brands Inc., then the fourth-largest tobacco company in the US. In February 2008, Imperial acquired the world's then fifth-largest tobacco company, Altadis , whose brands included Fortuna , Gauloises Blondes , and Gitanes . A number of factory closures were subsequently announced, including
7458-409: The end of 1970 The Times "Top 1000" ("a guide to the performance of major British and international groupings") listed Dalgety at 17th in sales but 121st in profits. Dalgety's 65-68 Leadenhall Street , London EC3 head offices were sold for three times the cost of the hybrid pig investment. Another year of drought continued its serious effect on profits and commentators inspired speculators by suggesting
7571-474: The end of the 20th century. By 1884 Frederick Dalgety had ten partners including managing partners and they had operations in London , Melbourne , Geelong , Launceston , Dunedin , Christchurch and Sydney . Dalgety, Du Croz and Co and their various partnerships were forced into incorporation as a joint-stock company by their clients' increasing demand for capital and the competition from other joint-stock companies and banks. Dalgety and Company Limited
7684-496: The firm's geographical coverage. Dalgety is now described as a diversified foods group holding just 50 per cent of Dalgety Australia. It is now the fifth largest lumber producer in British Columbia. However within twelve months difficulties in the tin market and London Metal Exchange led to a write-off of almost £28 million and Gill and Duffus withdrew from metals and "rationalised" their organisation. A further write off amounted to another £10 million that same year. £30 million
7797-404: The first view of Britain from the continent) or the "island of the Albiones ". The oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle (384–322 BC), or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle , in his text On the Universe , Vol. III. To quote his works, "There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne ". The first known written use of the word Britain
7910-435: The following year Australia's returns from wool were halved. Wool prices continued to fall but bottomed in 1971 when there were a record 180 million sheep, the sheep numbers to some extent compensating for low wool prices. Price stabilisation schemes were organised with Australian government support. That support was withdrawn in 1999. "It was during the 1990s that the Australian wool industry came to fully realise that wool
8023-474: The generally accepted view that Celtic originated in the context of the Hallstatt culture , since 2009, John T. Koch and others have proposed that the origins of the Celtic languages are to be sought in Bronze Age Western Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula. Koch et al.'s proposal has failed to find wide acceptance among experts on the Celtic languages. All the modern Brythonic languages (Breton, Cornish, Welsh) are generally considered to derive from
8136-782: The gold diggers and bought much gold from them. In 1851-55 he made about £150,000 from his gold speculations alone. In 1854 Dalgety moved to London to establish the headquarters of his metropolitan-colonial enterprise though at that time it dealt mainly with the Victorian pastoral industry. He took with him as London partner Frederick Du Croz and left Charles Ibbotson as a colonial manager-partner in Geelong. He came back to Victoria in 1857 to establish James Blackwood as another manager-partner in Melbourne but after 1859 he lived permanently in England and his business headquarters remained there to
8249-493: The interregnum which was a peak of anti-Catholicism. Most Jews in Great Britain have ancestors who fled for their lives , particularly from 19th century Lithuania and the territories occupied by Nazi Germany . Dalgety plc Dalgety plc —as Dalgety and Company —was for more than a century a major pastoral and agricultural company or stock and station agency in Australia and New Zealand. Controlled from London it
8362-550: The island group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles). The Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania ) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania ) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). In his later work, Geography ( c. 150 AD ), he gave the islands the names Alwion , Iwernia , and Mona (the Isle of Man ), suggesting these may have been
8475-404: The island of Great Britain as Britannia major ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from Britannia minor ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany and had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic Briton migrants from Great Britain. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for
8588-560: The island with around 2.1 million members. Introduced in Scotland by clergyman John Knox , it has the status of national church in Scotland. The monarch of the United Kingdom is represented by a Lord High Commissioner . Methodism is the fourth largest and grew out of Anglicanism through John Wesley . It gained popularity in the old mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire , also amongst tin miners in Cornwall . The Presbyterian Church of Wales , which follows Calvinistic Methodism ,
8701-715: The joint venture. It built the Imperial Tobacco Company Building at Mullins, South Carolina , US, between 1908, and 1913. The company expanded the tobacco growing enterprises in the United States that WD & HO Wills had developed before the amalgamation of 1901. It also established its own leaf-buying organisation in the United States through its building, the Imperial Tobacco Warehouse, in Durham, North Carolina , which
8814-456: The language of the emigrants, is still spoken. In the 9th century, a series of Danish assaults on northern English kingdoms led to them coming under Danish control (an area known as the Danelaw ). In the 10th century, however, all the English kingdoms were unified under one ruler as the kingdom of England when the last constituent kingdom, Northumbria, submitted to Edgar in 959. In 1066, England
8927-506: The largest pastoral house in Australia aside from Elders . Dalgety Farmers was then owned 65 per cent by Dalgety plc, 20 per cent by Farmers shareholders and 15 per cent by Bennetts shareholders. At this time ANZ Bank acquired a pre-emptive right to buy Dalgety Farmers shares from Dalgety plc. During 1985 Dalgety UK reduced its holding in Dalgety Farmers to 49 per cent. ANZ reached 25 per cent in 1989 and 95 per cent in 1992 in
9040-541: The largest religion by number of adherents since the Early Middle Ages : it was introduced under the ancient Romans, developing as Celtic Christianity . According to tradition, Christianity arrived in the 1st or 2nd century . The most popular form is Anglicanism (known as Episcopalism in Scotland). Dating from the 16th-century Reformation , it regards itself as both Catholic and Reformed . The Head of
9153-742: The long-running cigar factory in Bristol. Following the Scottish Parliament's decision in January 2010, to ban the display of tobacco products in shops, as well as the availability of tobacco vending machines in public buildings with effect from autumn 2011, Imperial Tobacco attempted to challenge the change in the law on the grounds that regulations of the sale goods rested with the Houses of Parliament in Westminster . However, this case
9266-463: The loss of 8,000 jobs and sold 13 of its plants to Ranks Hovis McDougall . In 1979 Dalgety also bought one of the world's largest distributors of frozen, dry and refrigerated foods and packaging materials for the fast food industry, Martin-Brower of USA, supplier of Ray Kroc 's first paper napkins and distributor of McDonald's products. According to an interview published in September 1979 by
9379-692: The majority shareholding in African Mercantile Company was bought. African Mercantile Company was like the Australian business but in East Africa with eleven branches in Kenya, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zanzibar. In the late 1950s Dalgety's business sector began to decline. By 1961 Dalgety's core business was the operation of wool stores in the state capital cities along with wool broking in which it had built its position and become
9492-685: The merged entity was the largest pastoral combine operating in Australasia. The East Africa activities were sold into a new combine with Smith Mackenzie and Company, trading from Zanzibar since the early 19th century and now the East African subsidiary of Inchcape and Company both parties taking equal shares. In which Dalgety begins to switch investment and operations from agribusiness to northern hemisphere food. As of 30 June 1970 Dalgety New Zealand Loan changed its name to Dalgety Limited —much later changed by legislation to Dalgety plc. On
9605-496: The much smaller surrounding islands. The North Channel , Irish Sea , St George's Channel and Celtic Sea separate the island from the island of Ireland to its west. The island is since 1993 joined, via one structure, with continental Europe: the Channel Tunnel , the longest undersea rail tunnel in the world. The island is marked by low, rolling countryside in the east and south, while hills and mountains predominate in
9718-512: The names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest . The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain , after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae ( c. 1136 ) refers to
9831-442: The political territory of England , Scotland and Wales , which includes their offshore islands. This territory, together with Northern Ireland , constitutes the United Kingdom . The archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term ' British Isles ' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC, Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as
9944-674: The price war in the British market promoted by "Buck Duke" 's American Tobacco Company . It amalgamated 13 British tobacco and cigarette companies: W.D. & H.O. Wills of Bristol (the leading manufacturer of tobacco products at that time), John Player & Sons of Nottingham , and 11 other independent family businesses. The other, smaller companies, involved in the amalgamation included Lambert & Butler , William Clarke & Son , Franklyn Davey, Edwards Ringer & Bigg, Hignett Brothers, Hignett's Tobacco, Adkins & Sons, Richmond Cavendish, D&J MacDonald, and F&J Smith. In 1902
10057-837: The printing and packaging firm, Mardon, Son & Hall was absorbed. In 1904, James & Finlay Bell Ltd was merged into the Stephen Mitchell & Son branch. The Company's first chairman was William Henry Wills of the Wills Company. In 1902, the Imperial Tobacco Company and the American Tobacco Company agreed to form a joint venture: the British-American Tobacco Company Ltd . The parent companies agreed not to trade in each other's domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses, and overseas subsidiaries to
10170-472: The remains of folded sedimentary rocks that were deposited between 1,000 My and 670 My ago over the gneiss on what was then the floor of the Iapetus Ocean . In the current era the north of the island is rising as a result of the weight of Devensian ice being lifted. Counterbalanced, the south and east is sinking, generally estimated at 1 mm ( 1 ⁄ 25 inch) per year, with
10283-505: The same date it made itself a holding rather than operating company when new Australasian operating subsidiaries Dalgety Australia and Dalgety New Zealand took over Dalgety's two branch businesses. The group had 66 per cent and 23 per cent of its net assets in the two countries. Dalgety Australia took over the Stonyfell winery in the eastern foothills of Adelaide in 1972, but by 1978 it had been taken over by Seagram 's, at which time
10396-934: The same league as Dalgety had attained in the 1990s. Until the second half of the 20th century when it moved operations to the Northern Hemisphere and transformed itself into a conglomerate the major portion of Dalgety's business was the Australasian wool trade pioneered by John Macarthur in New South Wales. Dalgety depended on the woolgrowers. Soon after F G Dalgety went into business on his own account Australia's sheep numbers had reached around 20 million. Thirty years later there were more than 100 million but by 1903 by prolonged drought flocks had almost halved and numbers did not come back to 100 million until 1926. By that time UK took about 50 per cent of Australia's total wool exports. UK demand rose during
10509-583: The same time, Gaelic tribes from Ireland invaded the north-west, absorbing both the Picts and Britons of northern Britain, eventually forming the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. The south-east of Scotland was colonised by the Angles and formed, until 1018, a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria . Ultimately, the population of south-east Britain came to be referred to as the English people , so-named after
10622-479: The term to refer to the whole of the United Kingdom which includes Northern Ireland , though the Oxford English Dictionary states "...the term is also used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom." Similarly, Britain can refer to either all islands in Great Britain, the largest island, or the political grouping of countries. There is no clear distinction, even in government documents:
10735-572: The trade minister, was the highest-ranking government official who had met with the executives from Imperial Brands: he met them twice in 2018. Great Britain Great Britain (commonly shortened to Britain ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe , consisting of the countries England , Scotland and Wales . With an area of 209,331 km (80,823 sq mi), it
10848-452: The western and northern regions. It is surrounded by over 1,000 smaller islands and islets . The greatest distance between two points is 968.0 km ( 601 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi) (between Land's End , Cornwall and John o' Groats , Caithness ), 838 miles (1,349 km) by road. The English Channel is thought to have been created between 450,000 and 180,000 years ago by two catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods caused by
10961-417: The wholesale slaughter of British beef animals following the discovery mad cow disease did, as suspected, move from cattle to humans. In 1996 and 1997 Dalgety sold 75 per cent of its whole business leaving its principal investment in animal (porcine) biotechnology. Renamed PIC International after its own biotech subsidiary it merged in 2005 with a matching (bovine) business Genus plc for a market valuation in
11074-465: The winemaking part of the business at Stonyfell was wound up. Smithfield 's Peter Dumenil & Co specialising in meat processing and supply of meat, poultry and game for the catering industry was bought. A small English livestock and animal feeds business was brought into the group, Grossmith Agricultural Industries. Intending to move their activities nearer the consumer Dalgety had expanded into North America in 1966 acquiring Balfour Guthrie ,
11187-516: The work of Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia , who travelled from his home in Hellenistic southern Gaul to Britain in the 4th century BC. The term used by Pytheas may derive from a Celtic word meaning "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk" in reference to body decorations . According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as Bretannikē , which is treated a feminine noun. Marcian of Heraclea , in his Periplus maris exteri , described
11300-476: The world's largest wool-selling house. As stock and station agents Dalgety arranged the sale of livestock and maintained a strong merchandise operation. It also operated freight and passenger agencies for leading air and shipping lines. There was a substantial business as insurance agents. Business was carried on at 446 centres; Australia 275, New Zealand 154, Kenya 7, Tanganyika 6, Uganda 3, Zanzibar 1 together with numerous subsidiaries. A United Kingdom subsidiary
11413-574: The Πρεττανοί, Priteni or Pretani . Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain , Britain , which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic -speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans . Greek historians Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo preserved variants of Prettanike from
11526-481: Was conquered by the Normans , who introduced a Norman -speaking administration that was eventually assimilated. Wales came under Anglo-Norman control in 1282, and was officially annexed to England in the 16th century. On 20 October 1604 King James , who had succeeded separately to the two thrones of England and Scotland, proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine, France , and Ireland". When James died in 1625 and
11639-418: Was Albion; but at a later period, all the islands, of which we shall just now briefly make mention, were included under the name of 'Britanniæ.'" The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia , the land of the Britons. Old French Bretaigne (whence also Modern French Bretagne ) and Middle English Bretayne , Breteyne . The French form replaced
11752-572: Was an ancient Greek transliteration of the original Proto-Celtic term in a work on the travels and discoveries of Pytheas that has not survived. The earliest existing records of the word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within Strabo's Geographica , Pliny's Natural History and Diodorus of Sicily's Bibliotheca historica . Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) in his Natural History records of Great Britain: "Its former name
11865-891: Was developing the group's agricultural and trading interests within the UK. To shore up declining profit margins various decisions were made. Multi-storey wool stores on valuable sites were sold off and replaced with single storey buildings on city outskirts. The single storey stores allowed the operation of modern more efficient handling machinery but the sale of old stores did not pay for new wool stores and Dalgety raised more capital by issuing debentures to investors in London. Dalgety and Company Limited merged in November 1961 with New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company Limited, one of its principal competitors in Australia's eastern states and New Zealand. Dalgety and Company Limited changed its name to Dalgety and New Zealand Loan Limited marketed as Dalgety NZL. With assets of £44 million in 1963
11978-530: Was dismissed on 30 September 2010 by Lord Bracadale in the Court of Session in Edinburgh . In 2011, Altadis USA Inc. said it would add to its Fort Lauderdale, Florida , headquarters and move Commonwealth Brands Inc. employees from Bowling Green, Kentucky . The company's name changed to Commonwealth-Altadis Inc. In 2013, Imperial opened a new global headquarters in Bristol. In April 2014, Imperial announced
12091-423: Was floated in 1884 Vanity Fair accused the promoters of "foisting a disreputable issue on an unsuspecting public". The centenary was marked by a city banquet attended by Princess Anne. It also announced the sale of Dalgety Foods, its American vegetable and soft fruit freezing business. 1985 saw the acquisition for £126 million of Gill and Duffus a commodities trader. It was meant to create synergy by expanding
12204-510: Was inhabited by hunter gatherers. Neolithic farmers , of Anatolian origin, arrived in Britain around 4000 BC, replacing the pre-existing hunter gatherers. Around 2000 BC, the Bronze Age Bell Beaker Culture arrived in Britain, which genetic evidence suggests was associated with another episode of nearly complete population replacement. Later significant migration to southern Britain around 1000 BC may have brought
12317-483: Was listed on the London Stock Exchange and Australasian exchanges. With the mid-20th century decline of the pastoral sector, particularly where Dalgety held the leading position in the synthetics bedevilled slumping wool trade, new investment was made in different sectors in other countries and Australasian investments sold down until it became a foods and agricultural business of the northern hemisphere. A successful conglomerate its core businesses were badly damaged by
12430-550: Was now a food and agricultural group and referred to as the Dalgety Spillers combine and had cut the Australian share of its turnover to just over 10 per cent. Eighteen months later it sold the last of what was Dalgety New Zealand (since 1857) to Cable Price Downer . Dalgety Farmers was formed the year before and over the next few years its control was moved to the ANZ Bank. 1984 was Dalgety's centenary year. When it
12543-459: Was realised from the sale of ABM Chemicals to RTZ . In 1986 Dalgety paid £87 million in a mixture of cash and shares for Golden Wonder , potato crisp manufacturers, along with the Ross potato distribution business and Flavourite and the press again began to see Dalgety as a takeover target. Inchcape Insurance paid £43 million for Dalgety's Clarkson Puckle insurance operation. Homepride Foods
12656-620: Was registered in London on 29 April 1884. The new incorporation was listed on the London Stock Exchange in August 1884. Over the next three years Dalgety branches opened in Queensland and Western Australia and the properties and other assets of the company increased by 50 per cent. Dalgety continued in active management as largest shareholder and chairman of directors until his death in 1894. He left at least seven stations in New Zealand but his Australian properties had been sold in
12769-400: Was sold to Western Livestock in August 1974. ICI bought Tasman Vaccine Laboratories. Dalgety New Zealand was now only 67 per cent owned. To handle agricultural commodities from Brazil Dalgety formed a new company with Munchmeyer Petersen of Hamburg. By 1975 the United Kingdom division was the largest contributor to profits and that was repeated the following year. Commentators now considered
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