Fathers & sons

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			Fathers & sons The national heritage of a country is measured not only in gold reserves and famous sites, but also in historical personalities. Britain is impossible to imagine without its Queen or Shakespeare or Churchill. Cigar lovers would have the name Freeman stand alongside these, because it was the Freemans that opened the first cigar factory in Britain, and it was these that got the British to love Cuban cigars. This is a brief history of the fathers and sons of this, the oldest tobacco dynasty in the United Kingdom. James I It all began with James Rejkers Freeman. His mother came from Holland and her relatives worked at one of the cigar factories that that country is famous for. When James grew up and it was time to choose a profession, the family decided to send him to Holland to learn the tobacco business. He was taken on as an apprentice at a cigar factory and, while engaged in more menial tasks, began paying considerable attention to the rollers in a bid to discover by watching the skilful movements of their hands the secrets of their craftsmanship. In time, the cigars that he made for himself after work got better and better with the result that after several months he was made a roller himself. Several years later, having acquired experience and confidence in his own abilities, James returned to England and opened a small cigar factory of his own on the outskirts of London. His company – J.R. Freeman and Son – were the first cigar manufacturers in Britain. It was 1839. Donald III By the beginning of the 20th century, the Freemans’ business was so successful that the old factory was no longer big enough, and James’ grandson, Donald, who stood at the head of the family business at the time, started looking for a new building. Soon a suitable property was found in Cardiff. This factory, incidentally, is still operational and considered one of the largest in Europe. At the time, the Freeman Company was producing such popular brands as Manikin and King Six. And production increased and profits grew. By the early 1930s Donald made a deal that would ensure that his name went down in the annals of world cigar manufacturing. The Freemans bought the company J. Frankau S.A., which owned the H. Upmann Factory in Havana, and this gave them full rights of ownership over this famous brand. But a few years later, Donald realized that he couldn’t guarantee the success of the brand he had bought, because that would require his permanent presence in Cuba, and there was no one to leave in charge of the business in England. It was then that Alonzo Menendez and his partner, Pepe Garcia, appeared... Donald had known Menendez for years, since he had been buying tobacco leaves from him. So when the latter offered $250,000 for the H. Upmann Factory, Freeman agreed in the knowledge that the business was going into good hands. Furthermore, under the terms of the deal J.R. Freeman and Son retained the right to sell the H. Upmann brand in Britain for the next eighty years. This was the beginning of a new stage in the history of the Freeman family – they became not only the producers of their own cigars, but the wholesalers of Cuban cigars. Robert IV The Second World War almost ruined the Freeman family. Cuba was located in the dollar zone and the British were banned from buying anything for dollars that was not exclusively intended for military use. So although they could still get tobacco for the factory in London, there was absolutely no chance of importing Cuban cigars to Britain. But Freeman and Menendez found a way out: they built a new factory in Jamaica which, unlike Cuba, was in the sterling area. They couldn’t actually manufacture H. Upmann cigars in Jamaica, so they solved that problem by giving them another name – El Trobador and Lar & Victor. These were quite popular in Britain, but the sales of these brands were nowhere near the volumes in which H. Upmann had been sold. But apart from all that, the Freemans also had to partially curtail their own production in Britain due to the lack of quality tobacco. As a result, the financial position of J.R. Freeman and Son became critical. The head of the family, Robert Freeman and his son, Donald, were in a difficult position. And the only way they could see out of it was through an end to the war and with it the renewed opportunity to obtain shipments of Cuban cigars. But though the war ended, one year passed, then another, but still the British were banned from trading with the dollar zone and thus with Cuba. It was then that Robert took the difficult decision to sell the family business. In 1947 J.R. Freeman and Son, producers of cigars in London, and J. Frankau S.A., engaged in the selling of Cuban cigars, were bought by the Gallaher Company. Robert Freeman continued, as previously, to sell cigars, but now as a hired worker – he was appointed sales and marketing director. The Freemans now owned only the factory in Jamaica. This continued until 1953, when Cuban cigars were finally allowed to return to the British market. The Freemans immediately felt better. Robert sold the factory in Jamaica, which had now become unnecessary, and bought back his former company, J. Frankau S.A. from Gallaher. He decided to stop manufacturing cigars completely, and concentrate on selling Cuban cigars in Britain. In a year Robert had expanded his business by buying the companies John Hunter and Morris & Elkan from the Hunter family that were the oldest suppliers of Havana cigars, and obtaining the rights to sell the brands Montecristo and Ramon Allones. This was a powerful move, giving the Freeman family business, with its control of the sales of H. Upmann cigars and the other two brands, 20% of the Cuban cigar import market. It was something to be proud of. But Robert Freeman had no intention of resting on his laurels. Three years later, in 1957, he bought the Siemssen Threshie Company from Roy Siemssen, a major supplier of tobacco leaf for the cigarette industry. As a result, the Siemssen Hunter Group was formed, which Robert registered as a joint stock company in order to pay less tax. Nicholas V The inheritance received by Nicholas Freeman was substantial. He came to the family business in 1960, having graduated as a chartered accountant at the age of 22. He then spent a bit of time getting to understand the ins and outs of the business and trying to discover its weaknesses. Ultimately, he decided upon reorganization. The companies involved in importing Cuban cigars: John Hunter, Morris & Elkan (Montecristo and Ramon Allones) and J. Frankau S.A. (H. Upmann) were merged into one company – Hunters & Frankau, which in turn became part of the joint stock company the Siemssen Hunter Group. Nicholas thought that this merger would make it possible for the business to be run more efficiently. And by putting ‘Hunters’ in the first part of the name Hunters & Frankau, Nicholas was able to add the date of its founding – 1790, which had a very solid ring about it indeed. The crisis which hit the tobacco industry in the early 1970s forced Nicholas to look for ways to save the family business. To do this, he began engaging in a business that was far removed from the tobacco trade – publishing. Hunters & Frankau continued to sell cigars and Siemssen Threshie to sell tobacco leaf, but 60% of the joint stock company’s business was now concerned with publishing. By 1974, the Siemssen Hunter Group became one of the most successful joint stock companies in Britain. When in 1970 Nicholas Freeman became director of the company, the price per share was 12.5p. Four years later, that price had risen tenfold to 124p per share. Then the Freemans were hit by another crisis, this time a financial one. But Nicholas Freeman managed to weather it by a rather clever piece of manoeuvring. He sold his empire under the name of the Siemssen Hunter Group, but kept the Hunters & Frankau Company for himself. As a result of this operation, a new holding company was formed, the Hunters & Frankau Group Ltd, 57% of the shares of which belonged to Nicholas Freeman, and the rest were divided between the Hambros Bank and two other shareholders. Thus, the cigar business remained in the hands of the Freeman family. Ten years later, the Freemans had control of about 40% of the total volume of cigars imported into Britain. But Nicholas didn’t stop at that. In 1990, he bought the rights to distribute the Romeo y Julieta brand, and three years later the rights to the brands: Bolivar, Punch and Hoyo de Monterrey. This made it possible for the Hunters & Frankau Group Ltd. to become the exclusive distributor of practically all the famous Cuban cigars sold in Britain. Having achieved the almost impossible, Nicholas had no intention of stopping. Though he preferred Cuban cigars to any others, he still wanted to get his hands on other world-famous brands. And he managed it. His company began to distribute Agio cigars from Holland, Villiger from Germany, Don Ramos from Honduras, and Santa Damiana from the Dominican Republic. Then Freeman bought the world rights to a number of General Cigar Co. brands: Macanudo, Jamaican Pride, White Owl, Robert Burns, Garcia y Vega, Wm. Penn and Tijuana. Finally, the Freemans became agents for Davidoff in Britain. The total annual volumes handled by the Hunters & Frankau Group Ltd. are impressive: they import five million cigars from Cuba, and twenty million from the rest of the world. Nicholas Freeman died in the year 2000 at the age of 62, leaving his business in excellent order. by MARIA NOVIKOVA