The birth of a polished gentleman

Well over a hundred years ago – in the early 1890s when life was lived at a more leisurely pace – a certain Mr Pexton, an enterprising English gentleman from Lancashire, developed a number of ingenious ways of cleaning and polishing Victorian silver and silverware.

Blessed with an endless supply of pure, soft Pennine water and an abundance of cleverly woven material from the local cotton mills, this quick-witted fellow was able to perfect one particular item – an impregnated silver polishing cloth – that employed a novel combination of an already successful silver polishing liquid and the high quality cotton material so readily to hand.

Such were the benefits of Mr Pexton’s ingenious product, it brought amazement and delight to the many people who used it. Indeed, such a treat were its ease of use and a wonder its anti-tarnish qualities, it very quickly became the ‘Town Talk Polish'.

It was thus no surprise that, in 1895, a manufacturing company was founded which – to this very day – trades as ‘The Town Talk Polish Company’.

As the Victorian era passed, the company flourished and, with the coming of a more light-hearted and glamorous age, the artist Austin Knight was commissioned to develop a symbol for the growing business.

Drawing on the annals of history and the elegant style of the day, this accomplished fellow developed the animated image we now know as Mr Town Talk, the Polished Gentleman.

Today, many years later and in his own inimitable way, this knowledgeable and practical fellow continues to epitomise our lasting commitment to the utmost in quality and service and all accomplished with polished flair.