Ilford Photo

Logo of Ilford Ltd. from 1930s

The company was founded in 1879 by Alfred Hugh Harman as the Britannia Works Company.[1] Initially making photographic plates, it grew to occupy a large site in the centre of Ilford.

In 1902, it took the name of the town to become Ilford Limited, despite the objections of the local council.[2] Production of roll films commenced in 1912 and the Mobberley (Rajar) factory was acquired in 1928.[3]

Box of 35mm Ilford film – expired: September 1957

On 1959 ICI acquired a majority share holding in Ilford. In 1963 Ciba AG, Switzerland, who had bought Lumiere, France the preceding year, and who already owned Swiss photographic coating company Tellko, begin to acquire shares in ILFORD as part of a commercial co-operation between Ciba and ILFORD to develop Ciba's dye-bleach print material (for making prints directly from colour transparencies). Originally called Cilchrome ('Cil' derived from the names Ciba, ILFORD and Lumière) the eventual product name was Cibachrome.

Ciba built a new plant in Marly, Switzerland to coat Cibachrome (renamed ILFOCHROME in 1992 after Ciba withdrew use of their name). The old Tellko factory nearby in the centre of Fribourg was used as the finishing department.

In 1969 Ciba acquire all ICI shares in ILFORD to become sole owner of ILFORD Limited. A year later Ciba merges with JR Geigy to become Ciba-Geigy.

In 1983, their UK headquarters was moved to Mobberley, Cheshire. In 1989, Ciba-Geigy sell Ilford to USA-based International Paper company, also owners of graphic arts materials manufacturer Anitec. The two companies were merged in 1990 to become Ilford Anitec. In 1996, the sales and administration offices were also moved from London to Mobberley.

In 1997 Ilford Anitec was sold onto Doughty Hanson & Co a British private equity fund manager and subsequently rebranded ILFORD Imaging Ltd. In 2002 plans were announced to redevelop the original part of the factory (former Rajar works) for housing to release funds to re-invest in the business, with the housing subsequently constructed in 2004–07.[4]

On 20 August 2004, after earlier that year celebrating 125 years of photographic manufacture, the UK company (ILFORD Imaging UK Limited) went into receivership with debts of £40m. The Swiss manufacturing site and distribution companies was put up for sale as a going concern.[5][6]

The Swiss part of the company and the plant at Marly was bought by the Oji Paper Company of Japan in July 2005 and by Paradigm Global Partners LLP in May 2010. It produced inkjet products and high quality colour photographic products under the name Ilford Imaging Switzerland GmbH before being declared bankrupt on 9 December 2013 resulting in the closure of the Marly plant.[7][8]

The 'Ilford Imaging' brand and trademarks (but not the Marly plant) was subsequently acquired by Australian firm CR Kennedy & Company Pty Ltd and Japan-based Chugai Photo Chemical Company. The Galerie range of papers was relaunched in August 2014 by ILFORD Imaging Europe GmbH now based in Germany. It holds the rights to the 'ILFORD' trademark for photographic applications but otherwise has no connection to Ilford Photo.[9]

The Marly site is now 'Marly Innovation Centre' with alternate uses found for the original buildings. In 2015, Fotoimpex owners of the ADOX photographic brand and a small scale photographic factory outside Berlin acquired use of the former Ilford Imaging (Ciba Geigy) machine E, medium scale coating line at Marly,[10] with the intention to begin coating ADOX film there in 2018.[11]

The UK site was subject to a management buyout by 6 former managers of Ilford Imaging UK Limited, which resulted in the formation of Harman Technology Ltd (named after the founder Alfred Harman) in February 2005. The company, now traded as Ilford Photo, producing high quality monochrome photographic products. The Ilford brand was retained by Ilford Imaging Europe GmbH and used under licence by Ilford Photo for its existing film products. To finance the purchase the Mobberley factory site was sold to Isola Investments Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Perviaz Naviede Family Trust with Ilford Photo remaining as tenant.[12]

A roll of Kentmere 100 black and white negative film in 135 format

In 2007, Harman Technology acquired Kentmere Photographic Limited, a manufacturer of photographic paper in Kentmere, Lake District.[13] Production is moved to Mobberley and in 2009 two new classic grain B&W films are added under the Kentmere brand. Originally designed as a lower priced brand to their Ilford offer to compete in the US market they are now available worldwide with the Kentmere brand particularly aimed at the student market and those new to black and white photography. Harman also contract manufacture similar black and white films for other brands including AgfaPhoto (APX), Rollei (RPX), Oriental (Seagull).[14]

In 2012, the company invested £350,000 in a 35mm film cassette making plant, bringing production back in house after relying on external suppliers for 50 years to provide long term surety of supply. The company was also noted as having an 80% share of the black and white photographic market.[15]

In 2014, land owners of the 40 acre Mobberley site submitted a planning application to Cheshire East Council to construct 375 homes on the majority of the site including investment to consolidate Ilford Photo operations onto a smaller 7.5 acre campus within the site.[16] The application was refused and an appeal was made to the planning inspectorate in July 2015.[17] Following a public inquiry in 2016, the appeal was rejected.[18]

On 14 September 2015, ten years on from the original management buy out, Ilford Photo announced that Harman Technology Limited had been acquired by Pemberstone Ventures Limited for an 'undisclosed amount'.[19]

In May 2018, the company announced a refresh of their existing Ilford film packaging,[20] with Kentmere film packaging refreshed in September 2018.[21] Both sets of packaging now feature a contrasting Harman Technology sub branding. In December 2018, they launched 'Simplicity' a new range of B&W development chemicals packed in small sachets designed to process 2x135 or 1x120 format films to improve convenience for new or low volume users.[22]

In 2019 Ilford celebrated its 140th year with a 'Silver Ticket Competition' one winning ticket for a factory tour and photographic course being hidden in a 140th anniversary film box and in October the announcement of a number of new products following a teaser campaign on social media. This included Ilford Multigrade V RC Deluxe photographic paper available in Glossy, Pearl and Satin finishes, ORTHO PLUS film in 135 and 120 formats, an Ilford and Paterson film processing starter kit and a Harman reusable camera supplied with 2x 35mm Kentmere Pan 400 films. [23]

A roll of Kentmere 400 black and white negative film in 135 format

• Kentmere PAN 100[25] (named Kentmere 100 until late 2018[26])
• Kentmere PAN 400[27] (named Kentmere 400 until late 2018[26])

Variable contrast

• Kentmere VC Select Lustre [28]
• Kentmere VC Select Glossy[29]

• Harman reusable Camera with 2 Kentmere Pan 400 films (from November 2019)

Ilford sold a number of cameras under its own name but made for it by other manufacturers, starting with a 'box' camera in 1902, but most were made in the 1940s and 50s. The Ilford Witness was a rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses announced in 1947, but not released until 1953 because of manufacturing difficulties. In the meantime, the simpler Advocate series 1 was released in 1949 and series 2 in 1952. A pre-release Advocate series 1 camera was given to Princess Elizabeth in 1948. It was stolen, but later recovered when it was sent to be repaired. Also released in 1949 was the Craftsman, a twin-lens reflex (TLR) which took 120 or 620 film. Then 1951 saw the Prentice folding camera which also took 120 film.

In 1957, Ilford released the Sportsman, a relabelled West German Dacora Dignette, as a lightly built and cheap 35 mm camera to compete with the better made and more expensive Kodak Retinette. In Germany, a comparative Dignette was about half the price of a Retinette, both coming from the Stuttgart – Black Forest area. The Sportsman became a series of camera models produced over the following 10 years. Finally, in 1958, Ilford released the Monobar, a monorail camera manufactured by Kennedy Instruments with a 35 mm back that resembled the earlier Advocate camera (which KI had also manufactured). The Monobar allowed the front (lens) and rear (film plane) of the camera to be moved and rotated, bringing the scheimpflug principle to the 35mm world.