Made up in Britain: Worcestershire Sauce : Lea & Perrins 1837

On August 28, 1837, Pharmacists John Lea & William Perrins manufactured Worcestershire Sauce. (Pronounced wooster-sheer.) An excerpt from the article:

"John Wheeley Lea (1791-1874) & William Henry Perrins (1793-1867), two Worcestershire chemists, were asked by Lord Marcus Sandys, the former governor to Bengal, to create a fish sauce from a recipe that he had grown to like in India.


As they were chemists and not chefs the resulting concoction was not very appetizing. Disappointed with their efforts, they banished their brew to the cellar. There, the sauce lay forgotten until the pair stumbled upon it two years later.

Before they discarded their concoction for good, they took one last taste. Much to their surprise, it had matured like a fine wine - with a savoury aromatic scent and a wonderfully unique taste. Lea & Perrins Original 'Worcestershire Sauce' was 'invented' and in 1837 began to be produced commercially.

But this was not the first mention of "Worcester sauce". A local delicacy from the river Severn was the Lamprey fish and local traders had been making sauces to compliment the dish for some time. Because of the Raj Indian flavours were starting to appeal to customers and nearby rival chemists like Twinberrow and Evans had good sales in sauces.
It is most likely that Lea & Perrins needed to make their sauce seem unique and possibly invented the events to make their sauce stand out from the competition."