Horse-drawn kerosene tanker built by Philip Wilson of Rochester Road

Horse-drawn kerosene tanker built by Philip Wilson of Rochester Road, London, to patent number 25,734 of 1902, by T. Davies of Liverpool. Painted in the livery of the Anglo-American Oil Co. Ltd., Serial number 68830902

This is an early tanker, constructed in 1902. It was used to distribute Pratt’s motor spirit, by the Anglo-American Oil company, which was the precursor to Esso. The tanker was built just a few years after Pratt’s motor spirit was launched. The company had a national network and was granted a royal warrant in 1905 for its supply of motor spirit. Pratt’s motor spirit was transported in canisters, secured to the side of tankers like this, and then sold in two-gallon cans by ironmongers, post offices and early garages. The inscription painted on the side of the tanker shows that it was based at the Great Western Railway Goods yard in Newbury.

Anglo-American Oil Co Ltd was founded in 1888 as a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company of America. Early on its history it supplied refined petroleum products, gas oil for the making of town gas, as well as paraffin for lamps. In 1896 it began selling Pratt’s motor spirit, named after Charles Pratt, one of the early directors of Standard Oil. By 1900 the company had a national supply network, with 1000 horses used for distribution by tanker. Horse drawn tankers continued to be used up until the end of the First World War. The company later became an important supplier of petrol, introducing the first hand-operated petrol pumps with underground tanks in 1920. In 1933 the Esso brand was launched in the UK, but Pratt’s was used as a brand name until the 1950s. By 1938 the company was the UK’s main supplier of petrol. In 1951 the company changed name to Esso Petroleum Co Ltd.