World Grain - June 2013 - 98

FEATURE

Joseph Rank

honored with exhibition

new exhibition commemorating the life and works of
Joseph Rank, founder of Joseph Rank Limited, opened
April 10 in the Streetlife Museum in Hull, England.
Rank, a third generation miller, in collaboration with a leading milling engineer of the time, Henry Simon, opened his
first roller milling plant, Alexandra Mill, in Hull in 1885. This
mill was at the forefront of the “roller milling revolution,”
which rapidly superseded the age-old stone milling systems
and went on to build strategically located mills using this new
technology throughout the British Isles. As a result, it became
the leading milling company in the country.
Rank (1854-1943) built his business empire from his hometown of Hull using the most modern technology available and
became known as the country’s richest man and by his competitors as the “Mighty Miller of Hull.”
The exhibition describes not only the life and works of
Rank himself, but also features aspects of Clarence Mills, the
last of the Rank mills to operate in the city, until 2005, and
whose redundant buildings are visible diagonally across Hull
River from the museum.
Clarence Mills was rebuilt in 1952 after it was destroyed by
bombs in World War II. Once again, the plant was designed
and supplied by Henry Simon Ltd. of Manchester, England.
The display emphasizes and describes the working of the
72 G-type rollermills used in the plant; the model that had
been exhibited at the 1951 “Festival of Britain” in the previous year. An interactive model of the rollermill provides
a means for visitors to better understand the milling process. Some components were donated by Satake Europe,

Colin Rank, left, stands alongside Alan Boyce of Rank Hovis in front of the
recently opened exhibition honoring his great grandfather, Joseph Rank.
Photo by Bryan McGee.
98

Permanent display in Hull, England
shines spotlight on this pioneer of
the country’s modern milling industry
the successors to Henry Simon Ltd.
The permanent display, commissioned by the Hull Civic
Society in partnership with the City Council Museums &
Galleries, was made possible through funding by the Joseph
Rank Trust. It was officially opened by Councilor Brown,
Lord Mayor of Hull and Admiral of the Humber, together
with Colin Rank, great grandson of Joseph Rank. Colin Rank,
chairman of the Joseph Rank Trust, is the last member of the
family to have been involved in the milling business.
During his speech at the opening of the exhibition, Colin
Rank mentioned how his great grandfather once thought about
becoming a missionary. Joseph Rank shared his thoughts with
a Methodist Minister who pointed out that there was an abundance of missionaries trained, ready and waiting to go in the
mission field, but there was a lack of funds to send them. The
minister told Rank that he was blessed with the skill to make
money and with that skill he had the ability to send not just
one missionary into the field, but countless more.
“The tribute to him unveiled today by the Hull Civic Society
is as much a tribute to what he stood for, as to the man himself,
and I am sure he would want it that way,” Colin Rank said.
Joseph Rank was succeeded as head of the business by his
son, James, followed by his brother, Joseph Arthur, and finally by his grandson, Joseph Rank, father of Colin, who was
Centenary President of the National Association of British
and Irish Millers (nabim) in 1978.
In 1962, nearly 20 years after Joseph Rank’s death, Joseph
Rank Limited acquired the Hovis-McDougall company, forming Rank Hovis-McDougall Ltd., to which other food manufacturing operations were added and which later became
RHM Plc. The group was in turn sold to Tomkins Plc and then
Doughty Hanson before finally being acquired by Premier
Foods Plc in 2007.
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June 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - June 2013

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