The ANGLO - AMERICAN OIL CO LTD was formed in 1888 and its main business was the shipment of lamp oil branded as "Royal Daylight" from America to the United Kingdom.
The first product to be shipped into Great Britain
The company was a British affiliate of the Standard Oil Trust which had been set up and run by John D Rockefeller in the USA. The UK head office was situated at Bishopsgate, London and a storage facility was located at Purfleet in Essex. The company later had offices at 36 Queen Anne's Gate London SW3 and other storage facilities. In 1911, following a ruling by the US Supreme Court, the dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust took place. This resulted in over 30 separate companies becoming independent. Standard Oil of New Jersey was one of them and acquired the Anglo-American Oil Company (AAOC).
Taken in the very early days of Aviation this photograph is a rare promotion of Anglo's Aero-Naph.
Peter Jeffery writes "You may be interested in the attached photo. It was taken in July 1910, on the occasion of a carnival in Burgess Hill, West Sussex. The airship was created by my Grandfather around a tricycle, whether it was motorised or not I do not know. My Grandfather was Anthony Hole, who started his Motor and Cycle business in 1895 and continued trading until his death in 1939. Grandfather is at the controls of the Airship."
The man to the left in the full size box is advertising Pratt's Motor Spirit, and it is just possible to see Anglo's pink coloured 2 gallon can of Aero-Naph in the Airship
By this time the AAOC was already importing motor spirit into the UK using the brand name of PRATT'S and as the motor industry started to grow the company introduced different brands - Pratts Motor Spirit sold in cases of
4 x 2 gallon cans, Pratt's Perfection Spirit in green cans, Anglo's Taxibus Spirit for commercial vehicles, Anglo's Benzole - a mixture of coal-tar and petrol, Pratts Ethyl - a mixture of alcohol
and petrol, Pratts High Test and straight Pratts. In addition to these brands they also had an aviation brand called 'Aero - Naph' which was sold in sealed
PINK 2 gallon cans.
In 1934 re branding took place and the AAOC took a phonetic version of the initials of Standard Oil
Pratt's 'Golden Pump' circa 1924 Petrol Pump by Gilbert & Barker with a later Esso Petrol Pump Globe - on show at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu
- "ess_o" and Pratts was no more as the brand of 'ESSO' set out on the road to become a global household name.
Pratts advertising is seen with and without the apostrophe i.e. PRATT'S, and PRATTS
from the mid 1920's. A popular early slogan was "Pratt's Perfection Spirit from the Golden Pump or the Green Can ". In 1927 a high performance fuel was introduced called Pratts Ethyl and around 1929 this was advertised with a caricature of a hatted lady and the slogan "Drive with Ethyl". They promoted this in a variety of ways with giveaway badges showing a slender petrol pump with Ethyl's head as the globe and with round orange transfers of Ethyl on 2 gallon petrol cans. The company was also known as ANGLOCO and this name appeared on some equipment in a
The stylised 'ANGLOCO' that appeared in some advertising and on some company equipment like this early oil pump of the 1920's
stylised logo and formed the basis of a cap badge worn by delivery drivers and other staff.
The series of Pratts advertisements shown below depict an early motor car in 1903, although the advertisement leaves the reader to think of a name for the contraption - by the style shown a horseless carriage would have been apt but this advert does give a feel for the time of a very small fledgling market. Advert 2 dated 1923 reinforces the "Garage" and the availability of motor spirit from the pump as the market had stared to grow. Advert 3 dated 1929 introduces Pratts Ethyl Petrol - an anti-knock petrol. Advert 4 dated 1931 proclaims "Woman takes the Wheel" - whatever next we might ask!
