Propert’s
Propert’s Web Cleaner was listed in a trade catalogue dated Summer 1966 (sporting a Royal Warrant) under ‘Forces Lines’ and shows Army Renovators 3, 61, 97, 103 & Green plus R.A.F. Blue Renovator ‘227′. The cost is shown as 1s 6d per tin and was a creme product like Quippy and later Pickering products. This would certainly sit alongside manufacturing of their shoe creme products and polish products. There was also a White product in a can with a larger size in a jar.
A tin of Propert’s RAF Blue Webbing Paste which carries the Ministry of Supply specification of TS213 so clearly Pickerings had an official competitor. It isn’t immediately clear why the 1966 brochure refers to the RAF Blue product as “227″ though.
The company was established in 1835 but was to be yet another company swallowed up by Reckitt & Sons Ltd in 1970 (latterly Reckitt Benckiser plc) whose acquisitions include many famous names of old – Wren, Nugget, Meltonian & Chiswick. Their rather splendid premises at 142 Battersea Park Rd, Wandsworth, London SW11 4NB still exist, with the Properts name over the door although now has other commercial uses.
