Fair trade may seem like a modern day concept but one of Wandsworth’s oldest companies, Price’s candles factory, was a leading light in the field.

As early as the 19th century, the factory imported palm oil from West Africa as a way of providing work which would prevent natives being sold off as slaves.

Price’s, in York Road, Battersea, employed approximately 1,400 people and was one of the key players helping bring light to the nation during the dark winter months.

The firm began trading as Edward Price and Co in 1830 at a small factory in Vauxhall.

It moved to larger premises at York House, by the river in York Road, in 1843 and it was here that the company blossomed into the world-famous brand name it is today.

The company reformed as Price’s Patent candle Company and during the Victorian era its output reached incredible heights.

In 1877 it produced 147 million candles, 32 million night lights, almost one million gallons of lamp oil and a large range of household and toilet soaps.

The widespread use of gas and electric lighting led to a reduction in the use of candles, and the company branched out into motor oils, soap and white spirit.

The company was resurgent in the 1970s during an era of power cuts an but people returned to modern appliances once the cuts stopped.

Now it is a retail outlet, based at York road, with pieces of the candle factory’s famous history decorating the shop.

After the war, some locals believed that the fog which used to surround Price’s in winter actually came from the factory.

So much so that whenever it was foggy in Battersea people would quip that ”they must be near Prices”.

Looking Back - A quick look at news from yesteryear

75 YEARS AGO FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1934 Harry Goldsmith, a labourer from Wandsworth, appeared at court charged with being drunk and disorderly after a fight with two men. However, Goldsmith had most of his teeth knocked out and his jaw broken. When asked why he was drinking on the night question, he said: “I was celebrating after two operations to fix a previously broken jaw and cracked teeth.”

50 YEARS AGO FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23,1959 A nine-year-old boy miraculously escaped injury when he fell 30ft from a second-floor window of his flat in the Henry Prince Estate, Earlsfield. The boy was said to have ‘bounced’ on hitting the concrete yard, according to witnesses. One onlooker said the boy lay still for a few moments before getting up, dusting himself off and walking away unhurt.

25 YEARS AGO FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1984 A 68-year-old woman defied a burglar by locking him in her flat until police arrived. The woman was woken by an intruder at 1.30am but cunningly locked the front with her door key before barracading herself in her bedroom and calling the cops. The burglar tried to escape through a kitchen window but the security bars on the outside were too narrow for him to squeeze through. Police arrived to find the frantic intruder trapped in the flat.

If you, like us, enjoy a regular jaunt down Memory Lane then let us know what heritage stories you would like to read by emailing jhenderson@london,newsquest.co.uk or calling the newsdesk on 020 8330 9535