Bovril

The first part of the product's name comes from Latin bovīnus, meaning "ox".[3] Johnston took the -vril suffix from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's then-popular novel, The Coming Race (1870), whose plot revolves around a superior race of people, the Vril-ya, who derive their powers from an electromagnetic substance named "Vril". Therefore, Bovril indicates great strength obtained from an ox.[4]

Poster for Bovril, about 1900; V&A Museum no. E.163-1973

"The Two Infallible Powers: The Pope & Bovril"; poster for Bovril, c. 1900

In 1870, in the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III ordered one million cans of beef to feed his troops. The task of providing all this beef went to John Lawson Johnston, a Scotsman living in Canada. Large quantities of beef were available across the British Dominions and South America, but its transport and storage were problematic. Therefore, Johnston created a product known as 'Johnston's Fluid Beef', later called Bovril, to meet the needs of Napoleon III.[5] By 1888, over 3,000 UK public houses, grocers and dispensing chemists were selling Bovril. In 1889, Bovril Ltd was formed to develop Johnston's business further.[6]

Bovril continued to function as a "war food" in World War I and was frequently mentioned in the 1930 account Not So Quiet: Stepdaughters of War by Helen Zenna Smith. One account from the book describes it being prepared for the casualties at Mons where "the orderlies were just beginning to make Bovril for the wounded, when the bearers and ambulance wagons were shelled as they were bringing the wounded into the hospital".[7]

A thermos of beef tea was the favoured way to fend off the chill of matches during the winter season for generations of British football fans; Bovril dissolved in hot water is still sold in stadiums all over the United Kingdom. Bovril beef tea was the only hot drink that Ernest Shackleton's team had to drink when they were marooned on Elephant Island during the Endurance Expedition.[8]

When John Lawson Johnston died, his son George Lawson Johnston inherited and took over the Bovril business. In 1929, George Lawson Johnston was created Baron Luke, of Pavenham, in the county of Bedford.

Bovril's instant beef stock was launched in 1966 and its "King of Beef" range of instant flavours for stews, casseroles and gravy in 1971. In 1971, James Goldsmith's Cavenham Foods acquired the Bovril Company but then sold most of its dairies and South American operations to finance further take-overs.[9] The brand is now owned by Unilever.[5]

Bovril holds the unusual distinction of having been advertised with a Pope. An advertising campaign of the early 20th century in Britain depicted Pope Leo XIII seated on his throne, bearing a mug of Bovril. The campaign slogan read: The Two Infallible Powers – The Pope & Bovril.

Bovril is also produced in South Africa by the Bokomo division of Pioneer Foods.[10]

During the Siege of Ladysmith in the Second Boer War, a Bovril-like paste was produced from horse meat within the garrison. Nicknamed Chevril (a portmanteau of Bovril and cheval, French for horse) it was produced by boiling down horse or mule meat to a jelly paste and serving it as a "beef tea".[11][12]

In 2004, Unilever removed beef ingredients from the Bovril formula, rendering it vegetarian. This was mainly due to concerns about decreasing sales, particularly from exports due to an export ban on British beef, as a result of the growing popularity of vegetarianism, religious dietary requirements, and public concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy.[13] In 2006, Unilever reversed that decision and reintroduced beef ingredients to their Bovril formula once sales increased and the beef export bans were lifted.[14] Unilever now produces Bovril using beef extract and a chicken variety using chicken extract.[15]

Advertisement for Bovril at Southsea, c. 1914

Bovril advertising token issued for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria

Since its invention, Bovril has become an icon of British culture. It is commonly associated with football culture, since during the winter British football fans in stadium terraces often drink it from Thermos flasks; or from disposable cups in Scotland, where thermoses are banned from football stadiums.[16][17]

In the film In Which We Serve, the officers on the bridge are served "Bovril rather heavily laced with sherry" to warm them up, after being rescued during the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force.

During a 2011 episode of Top Gear, James May drank from an urn of Bovril while driving a snowplough in Norway and commented: "We all know that when it's snowing and it's cold you have Bovril. That's a rule of life."[18] Bovril reappeared in another episode of Top Gear in the form of Jeremy Clarkson's V8 Food Blender, wherein it was used to make a "Man's V8 Smoothie" complete with raw beef, chilies, hot sauce, and a brick.

On Frasier in Season 6, Episode 7, Daphne is upset when Niles throws away a jar of Bovril because it smelled rancid. Daphne exclaims: "That's how it's supposed to smell; it's English!"

In Steve Coogan's 2016 Alan Partridge mockumentary Scissored Isle, the Partridge character offers Bovril to some teenagers, describing it as "beef tea".

Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, stated that he relied on frequent baths, Bovril sandwiches and very loud guitar playing as excuses to avoid writing.

British mountaineer Chris Bonington appeared in TV commercials for Bovril in the 1970s and 1980s in which he recalled melting snow and ice on Everest to make hot drinks.

• Portable Soup
• Liebig's Extract of Meat
• Bonox

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bovril.

• Official Bovril Website
• Unilever Website
• Unilever explains the reintroduction of beef to Bovril.
• BBC: No beef over Bovril's veggie move
• The Bovril Shrine
• Documents and clippings about Bovril in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW