Farley’s Rusks

The famous Farley’s Rusks have been a staple diet for babies and young children for around 165 years and are still going strong. For the best part of sixty years the Farley’s firm was run, and largely owned, by three generations of a single family. Memories still abound, not only from many of those who worked at the factory, often down several generations, but also from descendants of the last family directors. They recorded fond recollections of their childhood interactions with factory staff and of the remarkable freedom they had to wander around the ovens, lorries and paraphernalia associated with large-scale industrial food production.

Family member Richard Trahair tells the story of rusk manufacture in Plymouth, from its humble beginnings, through its glory days and ultimately to its tragic demise. The story is liberally brought to life through a host of historic photographs and advertisements, many in colour, from the comprehensive company archive which document one of the jewels of industrial history in South West England.