Business News The Griffin Report


Jon Griffin, Chamberlink’s award-winning columnist, meets Philip, Peter and Robert Salt, the tenth generation of the family running an historic healthcare company in Birmingham. He discovers a remarkable link to the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s – and the French dictator’s tooth.


It’s a tiny but unique piece of world military history – and an extraordinary slice of heritage for one of the UK’s oldest manufacturers. Few companies in Birmingham can lay claim


to playing a significant role in the Napoleonic Wars – let alone having a personal link to the French dictator whose ambitions to conquer Europe were to change the course of history. But Aston-based Salts Healthcare Ltd are no


ordinary company. Founded in Wolverhampton 1701 by brothers John and William Salt more than 100 years before Trafalgar and Waterloo, Salts were called on to assist the British war effort in the early 1800s as Britain held firm against the French Emperor’s ruthless ambitions. At that time Salts, whose manufacturing range


had spanned weapons, ironmongery ,surgical appliances and other materials, were patriotic suppliers to the campaign to defeat Napoleon – and even had a remarkable medical link to the French Emperor himself. Six generations before today’s trio of brothers


who run Salts, ancestor R Salt was serving in the Navy Medical Corps – and found himself having to tend to Napoleon when the defeated French Emperor was held in exile on the island of Elba. The dictator had been suffering from


toothache – and Mr Salt helped to remove the offending tooth. The historic Napoleonic extract was subsequently preserved and has been kept as a family heirloom. In addition a number of other Salts artefacts


are held at the Nottingham Museum of Life, where they were donated via the Nottinghamshire-based Forresters Regiment. As well as the Napoleonic tooth, a chest containing surgical instruments, medicine bottles and vials bearing the Salts logo were found in an attic store at the museum. Volunteer John Essex had researched Salts’ history and subsequently made contact with current managing director Peter Salt. As Chief Executive Philip Salt says of the link


to Napoleon: “Our ancestor was in the Navy Medical Corps. The accompanying piece of paper explains the details and where it was extracted – they even had a local man carve an image of Napoleon’s head into the tooth.” Brother Peter


added: “We were key suppliers to the Napoleonic Wars, World War One and World War Two. The Napoleonic tooth is a small part of our history.” More than 300 years later,


The brothers Salt (left to right, Peter, Philip and Robert), the seventh generation running Aston-based Salts Healthcare Ltd


‘We were key suppliers to the Napoleonic Wars, World War One and World War Two’


Its best known product is the colostomy bag –


developed by Salts executives in 1948 in conjunction with Professor Brian Brooke from Birmingham General Hospital. Export Director Robert Salt said: “We worked


hand in hand with the medical profession and it changed people’s lives. The business changed direction and we are today the leading stoma company manufacturing in the UK.” Sales at Salts have surged over the last five


years from £52.5m in 2011 to £77.3m in 2015 – and the company continues to invest heavily in both machinery and staff. The company boasts a 650-strong workforce, with five sites in Birmingham. As Robert says: “People


are at the centre of our business. We have always put patients first and that is something we got from our father.” But laughter is never


Salts are still making history as one of the UK’s oldest family-run manufacturers, with turnover rocketing In recent years. The Aston firm is today at the forefront of UK medical care, supplying a range of ostomy and orthotic products.


14 CHAMBERLINK February 2017


A piece of history: Napoleon’s tooth carved in the French dictator’s image


far from the daily regime at Salts. “I do not think


that we would be able to get through a day without


humour. Being able to enjoy what you do is very important to us.” Philip added: “You spend more time with


people at work than you do with your family at home. I think that people genuinely enjoy


A surgeon’s chest from the Salts artefacts


working here – and they are quite prepared to take the mickey out of us.” But it has not always been plain sailing for


Salts as Philip readily admits: “We have had some tough times. We had cash-flow problems in the late 1980s and 1990s.” But even then the brothers preferred to look


on the bright side. Or as Robert put it: “Humour helped us through the dark times – but if our staff are funnier than us, we sack them,” he adds with a broad grin. With turnover now at record levels to add to


an incomparable history – Napoleon’s tooth et al – the Salts’ brothers’ fun-filled workplace recipe seems to paying handsome dividends at Aston.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68