Jacobs cracker challenge drivers#

Jim Larkin referred to the Jacob’s board as slave drivers but they subsequently took him to court and won. In 1912 the brothers opened their second factory in Liverpool, and by the 1920’s they were employing 3,000 workers, two thirds of whom were women.ġ913 saw the Dublin operation affected by the Lockout strike of that year, with management having to bring in staff from the UK to fill roles vacated by striking workers. They also moved to Dublin and opened a premises on Bishop street, where the Dublin Institute of Technology now resides.ġ880 saw a major setback, with a spectacular fire that destroyed the factory (apparently large quantities of flour can be explosive), but Jacob’s soon recovered and by the end of the century were exporting to such far-flung places as Athens, Calcutta, and the Philippines. The brothers took a sweet leap of faith and began branching out into the ‘fancy’ biscuit market, within one year producing fifteen different varieties, and soon after that, commenced exporting to the U.K.

Robert and William Jacob were brothers who inherited their father’s Waterford-based bakery business, which at the time was making bread, barm and ship biscuits (which were described as boringly hard and sugarless.) The tour was presented by curator Wendy Williams and kicked off with some details on how the famous Irish biscuiteers were formed back in 1850. September and October saw an interesting exhibition on the history of Jacob’s biscuit factory in residence at Pearse Street library. Ailish Byrne, daughter of Jacob’s worker Florence O’Connor at the exhibition.

Jacobs cracker challenge