DEATH OF MR. EPPB.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 1350, 12 June 1907, Page 3

DEATH OF MR. EPPB.

FORTUNE MADE FROM FAMOUS

COCOA PHRASE.

James Epps, founder of the wellknown firm of cocoa makers, died at his home on Beulah Hill a month ago, aged eighty-six. Mr Epps was a man whose name has for two generations been a household word, but whose personality has remained utterly unknown to all but a small circle.

Yet he was a pioneer in one branch of British commerce. Half a century ago he shaped his business on what would now be tho-ight the most successful of modern lines ; he coined a phrase, "Grateful and comforting," that made his fortune ; and he has died a reputed millionaire. In the early eighties the catch phrase of his business was the topic of songs in the music halls, and was a phrase on everyone's lips. Dr. John Epps, the fashionable physician, invented the cocoa tiiat was to make his brother a millionaire, tip to that time it had been difficult to secure , easily-prepared cocoa, and the fat in the raw article prevented it from being drunk by many. Dr. John Epps mixed the cocoa with arrowroot and sugar, and Epps'a patent was the result. James had the cocoa prepared and John recommended it to his patients. At first' it was made by the well-known house of Dunns, probably the oldest chocolate makers in England. But after a time Mr Epps established his own factory in Euston Road, and in 1880 he built the large premises in Holland Street, Blackfriars, which the firm still occupies. The cocoa was soon found to meet a public want, and the demand for it grew enormously. James Epps made what Was then a striking new departure by offering his preparation all ready done up in packages, and the familiar buff little parcels soon became known in most of the well-to-do homes of Britain.