The Christmas Cracker invented in Clerkenwell? Pull the other one.

Clerkenwell is, and has been for centuries, a hotbed of creativity.

In the late 1800s Clerkenwell was described as ‘the greenhouse of invention’.  The machine gun, Marconi’s electric telegraph, dynamos, speedometers and torpedo engines. All invented here.

But did you know that the Christmas Cracker was invented in Goswell Road, EC1?

In 1847 Tom Smith, a baker and confectionery seller in Goswell Road, travelled to Paris to seek inspiration and brought back the French idea of the bon-bon, a sugar-almond wrapped in paper with a twist at both ends. He added a love mottos and rhymes and later enlarged the packaging when he replaced the bonbon with a small gift. Smith was then inspired, allegedly, by the cracking of a log on his fire and so added silver fulminate ‘snap’ (which had been around for decades) to create his ‘Cosaque’. The name supposedly arose because of the crack they made when pulled sounded like the cracking whips of Russian Cossack horsemen. Before long they were known as the cracker.

Tom’s son, Walter, continued the business and added little hats, made of fancy paper, and sourced more elaborate novelties and gifts from Europe, America and Japan. The success of the cracker enabled the business to grow and move to larger premises in Finsbury Square, employing 2,000 people by the 1890s, many of which were female workers.

In an article in The Strand magazine, from 1891, a journalist is taken around the immense factory in Finsbury by Walter Smith. He reports ‘The literary work is no small item, and a man who can write good verse can earn good money…Ladies seem to be the most adept at this sort of thing which is paid for at so much a set of verses. This one is a gem:-

 “Half hidden ‘neath the spreading leaves,
A purple violet bent its head;
Yet all around the moss-grown path
In love its fragrance softly shed.
My living violet, whisper low,

That o’er my life your fragrance sweet
Will make a garden of my life,
Where love its counterpart may meet!”

The poet asked five shillings for this, and offered to supply them in unlimited quantities at the same price.” Slightly more sophisticated than some of today’s ‘jokes’.  Q: Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? A: A mince spy.

The company remained there until the 1950s, by which time they were making 30,000 crackers a week. In Finsbury Square today you can find a rather underwhelming memorial fountain to the family in the square's south-east corner.

Although no longer in Finsbury Square, and no longer owned by the Smith family, the Tom Smith brand has survived, and continues to produce crackers for every pocket, from luxurious to fun-sized, including special crackers for the Royal Household.

Possibly not one the world’s most important inventions, but certainly one of the most fun. And a little festive frivolity might be just the thing to bring a little seasonal cheer.

So thank you Tom Smith, our creative EC1 confectioner, and have a cracking Clerkenwell Christmas, everyone!

This article first appeared in the EC1 Echo in December 2020