Sal Vital and Dexal add to lime and other cordials as household brands from Adelaide's A.M. Bickford & Sons
Sal Vital become one of A.M. Bickford and Sons' household-name products.
Besides its famous cordials, produced from a factory in Waymouth Street, Adelaide, from 1874, A. M. Bickford & Sons continued producing household-name brands into the 20th Century. These included its Coffee and Chicory Essence (later Bickford's Iced Coffee Mix) in 1920, winning the gold medal at the All-Australian Exhibition in 1930.
In 1922 , Bickford's Sal Vital, an effervescent “health salt” powder with “all the elements that tend to cool and purify the blood, and makes as well, a refreshing and cooling beverage", went on sale. Dexal and Sopaderm were other brands developed by Bickford’s.
The company started with William Bickford working as a chemist’s assistant after arriving, aged 23, in Adelaide in 1839. Next year, he opened his own shop in Hindley Street, near Rosina Street, with borrowed capital of £220. Its success allowed him to move to a bigger shop down the street. Bickford had done well enough by 1846 to build a large house “Benacre”, at Glen Osmond. But he died five years later, leaving his wife Anne pregnant and with four young children (William, Harry, Elizabeth, Edward).
Anne continued trading with his sons Harry and William. Anne Bickford engaged qualified chemists Edwin Page and Robert Hutton to carry developing drugs sold by the business for 14 years. Son Harry, now a qualified chemist, returned from England to join his mother in the business as Bickford and Son. Eldest son William in 1871 joined A.M. Bickford and Sons.
Looking to diversify, the family built a factory in 1974 that produced soft drinks and cordials including the now-famous lime cordial (originally crafted as a cure for scurvy) that gained international awards.
With their mother's death in 1877, the two sons continued expanding, including a Perth branch and amalgamating with competition Felton Grimwade & Co. of Melbourne. In 1914, the Adelaide manufacturing laboratory moved to Waymouth Street alongside the cordial factory.
A major change for Bickford’s family identity came in 1930 when it combined with similar companies from all states, except Tasmania, to form a holding company, Drug Houses of Australia (DHA), with a capital of £5,000,000.
