General Metal and Holloware

William H. Williams Ltd. Stewart Street

We know nothing else about this company but this product more than earns them a spot in this museum.  Men carrying their dinner to work, whether in containers like these or some cheaper alternative, were once a common site.  As works canteens increased in number, the sight became somewhat less common.  In this advert Williams say the carriers are "specially designed for export".  They might have been exported anywhere but items of this design are still very common in Bombay, where, in a daily miracle of organisation, an amazing (and secret) system brings office workers' lunches from wives in kitchens all over the suburbs to husbands in offices all over the city, and all carried in containers like these.