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.....The...Hire...Department.....



The hire department was one of the original departments of the company. It became a colossal organisation responsible for providing all the paraphernalia to mount the largest of catering events. These were undertaken for both inside and outside functions. So many catering events were held outside that an Outside Catering Department evolved. Any item could be supplied from their stores at Olympia from large marquees with chandeliers, to toothpicks and menus designed to customers requirements. On one occasion in 1895, it provided all the necessary equipment, including horse-drawn vans, for the Guards Officers' Mess when they were on a six week manoeuvre from Hounslow to Aldershot. The caterers followed the army by day and camped overnight erecting the tents, with their oil lamps, so that the officers could dine in relative comfort. The team were visited frequently during this period by Isidore Salmon who travelled down by coach to check that everything was going to plan.
Although small in comparison to many private banquets, one of the most important must have been the banquet given to His Excellency Li Chung Tang, a diplomat in the service of the Emperor of China, in 1896 when he visited the Telegraph & Maintenance Company works on the River Thames. Just 141 Admirals, Vice-Admirals and other important guests sat down to lunch which started two hours late due to late arrival of Li Chung Tang. In contrast, the banquet given by Lord Strathcona, the Scottish-born fur trader and financier who built the Canadian Pacific Railroad, numbered 2,400. On this occasion all supplies, waitresses included, had been sent to Aberdeen, Scotland, by special train from London, the food having been cooked in field kitchens. 

 

© Peter Bird 2002

 

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