Similarities between Penhaligons, Trumpers and Truefitt - an Epiphany of sorts

[Ru4scuba?]

All,

Know this has been posted before, but now I have experience with it. My recent visit to London's Bathecary in Charlottesville VA (see here) really surprised me with some scents.

Particularly Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet (which is really my #1 favorite Edt of all time) and GFT Wellington Edt and Truefitt's Trafalgar. They are so similar in fact, that it literally took a couple of minutes sniffing the spray cards to detect the differences.

I walked out wearing Wellington and it took 30 minutes before the wife said..."thats a bit more peppery than your Blenheim...but its really hard to detect." Coming from a woman that thinks my shave hobby is on the verge of nutty...that says something.

Then I had an epiphany that I'm sure some smarter B&Ber thought of years ago.

Penhaligon's Blenheim - clearly a nod to PM Churchill who allegedly loved the scent

GFT Wellington - a nod to the Duke of Wellington, the famous English General who bested Napoleon at Waterloo

Truefitt's Trafalgar - a nod to Horatio Nelson who bested Napoleon's Navy at the famous battle of Trafalgar...which some say turned the war for France.

Ok...so three major British fragrance houses come up with very similar scents all with nods to famous British leaders...what gives?

What are the chances that Churchill actually liked Blenheim Bouquet? Seems to me now more likely that the three came together to mass market similar scents to the world...or one led the way and the others followed, trying to catch up.

Anyone know the actual history of the three houses enough to be able to state which is the truth?

Update: Just found this post here

I knew this topic had been discussed before....but I'm still curious to the history. Further, I didn't see any threads relating to all three...I believe all three are VERY similar.

 

[The National Razor]

that is interesting. and a lot of them are probably related to some long-forgotten ancestor. E.g. the curious case of Pengaligon's English Fern (1911), which is similar to Trumper's Wild Fern (1887), which is similar to Houbigant's Fougere Royale by Houbigant (1882). *note: years are from basenotes

There is always an element of pioneering and copying in fragrance, I guess. But that doesn't diminish the quality of an imitation.

 

[The National Razor]

And for what it's worth, the release dates of these fragrances you mentiond are:

Trumper's Wellington (1876)
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet (1902)
T & H Trafalgar (1986)

*per basenotes

 

[Ru4scuba?]

There is always an element of pioneering and copying in fragrance, I guess. But that doesn't diminish the quality of an imitation.

Too true! And for the record, I'm not suggesting Wellington and Trafalgar are bad...I'm actually contemplating getting the Wellington when my BB runs dry as I really like these type of scents. I was just dumbfounded at their similarity in scent as well as what I guess I would call British national prominence.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

And for what it's worth, the release dates of these fragrances you mentiond are:

Trumper's Wellington (1876)
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet (1902)
T & H Trafalgar (1986)

*per basenotes

So...Wellington came first? VERY interesting...and now has increased my desire to get this juice.

 

[The National Razor]

So...Wellington came first? VERY interesting...and now has increased my desire to get this juice.

Trumper is probably my favorite house/grooming company. I have more of their products in my shave den than any other company. there's just something admirable about them...

Penhaligon's for some reason...I don't like. The company was swell to me and sent me some free samples...I guess i just don't "get them" yet.

Speaking of the samples, I remember thinking of BB as lemonheads, but I really loved the Wellington sample I tried.

 

[The National Razor]

So...Wellington came first? VERY interesting...and now has increased my desire to get this juice.

I just copied all the dates from basenotes...I believe it to be true but wouldn't swear to it. But that interested me too--especially how you hear that Wellington is the copycat. Same for the Fern fragrances--the Trumper came first (although both ripped off the Fougere Royale!)

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Well I'm definitely going to start paying more attention to GFT...up to this point, just had their limes SF and SC.

Now its time to turn to their other scents!

 

[The Nid Hog]

I could be wrong about this (one of the true fragrance wizards please correct me if I am), but I think that BB premiered too early to be made for Winnie. I remember reading somewhere that the Blenheim estate had been remodeled at the turn of the century and it was a very popular destination for sight-seeing in England. Penhaligon's probably named it to take advantage of the "buzz." Of course, that doesn't mean that WC didn't use it.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

I'm not suggesting it was actually "made" for him...but it was clearly a nod to the Churchill name. His dad, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a very famous name around that time. Further, Winnie was a growing celeb. By 1902 he had seen action in NW India, Khartoum and the Boer War. Further, and more to the point of this post, he was an active war correspondent (as well as soldier...a bit of an oddity at the time) and thus, gaining popularity and spreading his name back home.

Blenheim Palace was "the place to be" so to speak. So, clearly Penhaligons was at least attempting to recognize the importance of the place, and...by default, the people living in its walls.

 

[The National Razor]

I'm not suggesting it was actually "made" for him...but it was clearly a nod to the Churchill name. His dad, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a very famous name around that time. Further, Winnie was a growing celeb. By 1902 he had seen action in NW India, Khartoum and the Boer War. Further, and more to the point of this post, he was an active war correspondent (as well as soldier...a bit of an oddity at the time) and thus, gaining popularity and spreading his name back home.

Blenheim Palace was "the place to be" so to speak. So, clearly Penhaligons was at least attempting to recognize the importance of the place, and...by default, the people living in its walls.

Maybe Winston was drawn to it because the name reminded him of home?

I remember hearing somewhere that Pen's wanted to name it Marlborough, but there was already a Trumper fragrance out there by that name. So they named it after the palace instead. Or maybe I made that up.

 

[WhosYerBob]

Ok...so three major British fragrance houses come up with very similar scents all with nods to famous British leaders...what gives?

Read up on the history of scents and one will find that it happens all the time. A scent house will create a successful product; the competition wants a piece of the action and decides to create something similar. Sometimes the copy is more successful than the original.

 

[SHarris]

I suppose it may have been one of the very first unofficial product endorsements.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Read up on the history of scents and one will find that it happens all the time. A scent house will create a successful product; the competition wants a piece of the action and decides to create something similar. Sometimes the copy is more successful than the original.

Mitch,

This is what I think happened here. Trumpers came up with a unique scent that the masses liked in Wellington. Furthermore, everyone in England was remembering Wellington at that point in time...the guy was an icon and arguably, at the height of his popularity. Penhaligon's wanted to match Trumpers and choose the name Blenheim because at the time, Blenheim and Churchill was a household name....thus, appealing to the populace.

At some point, the head of Pen's gets Churchill to sniff the stuff. Churchill makes some kind of comment that its nice, or he likes it and it goes down in history as "his scent."

Truefitt just picked up Trafalgar way late...Nelson had been dead quite a long time by 1986

 

[pcb01]

I started a thread back in May re: I thought Trafalgar and Blenheim were very similar, and the overwhelming consensus was they couldn't be more different! Took my nose home and sulked.

Wish I knew how to post a link to that thread, but I don't. Maybe you can look it up under my member name -- pcb01. Lots of pertinent historical info logged there.

 

[The National Razor]

I started a thread back in May re: I thought Trafalgar and Blenheim were very similar, and the overwhelming consensus was they couldn't be more different! Took my nose home and sulked.

Wish I knew how to post a link to that thread, but I don't. Maybe you can look it up under my member name -- pcb01. Lots of pertinent historical info logged there.

Here you go.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=91565

 

[blantyre]

Creed has just (re) launched Windsor. However, judging by their description (Gin, limes, orange, and eucalyptus among others), it may be the France's revenge for their drubbings at Waterloo and Trafalgar.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Creed has just (re) launched Windsor. However, judging by their description (Gin, limes, orange, and eucalyptus among others), it may be the France's revenge for their drubbings at Waterloo and Trafalgar.

Been away for a few days, so I just read this...but it had me laughing. Wouldn't surprise me if this was the sole justification for a new scent. But the name is a bit off...unless its their nod to the fact they were drubbed

 

[kingfisher]

I'm no history buff, but T&H was founded in 1805, which, if I'm not mistaken, is sometime around the time of the Battle of Trafalgar.

That's probably why they named their "ol' skool" copycat fragrance Trafalgar.

 

[StylinLA]

I've always heard Churchill was a fan of Vintage Tabarome....