Price's Patent Candles, founded in 1830, is an importer and retailer of candles. The firm is headquartered in Bedford in England, and holds the Royal Warrant for the supply of candles. It is today the largest candle supplier in the United Kingdom, and the company holds an important place in the technological history of candle making. History In 1830 a middle-aged Scotsman living in London was considering his business future. He was no stranger to commercial failure. As a young man in Scotland he had seen the collapse of his father's iron works in 1812 during the economic slump of the Napoleonic Wars. He had then travelled south to London and set himself up as a successful merchant in the 'Russia trade', importing goods from Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Now at the age of 58 William Wilson was approached by his partner with an invitation to go into a new venture: candle manufacture. Perhaps it was William's familiarity with the Russian tallow trade that had suggested the idea. Tallow, a purified form of beef or mutton fat, was the only cheap available alternative to beeswax for making candles at this time. But if William was already familiar with the candle trade, he must have paused for thought. Candle manufacture had barely progressed since the Middle Ages. The wealthy and the Church burned beeswax candles, everyone else used the cheaper tallow lights which smoked, smelled and guttered. The poor either made their own tallow dips from hoarded animal fat with rush wicks – known as 'rushlights' – or lived in darkness. Royal Warrant By 1840 the perfect product was ready for Queen Victoria's wedding. It was traditional for every loyal household to burn a candle in its front room window on the evening of the monarch's wedding, and in London on 20 February most people lit one of Price's new stearin 'composite' candles made from a mixture of refined tallow and coconut oil. Price's Patent Candle had long had a close association with the Royal Family. From the earliest days when the launch of their new composite candle coincided with the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, there had been an ongoing Royal connection. Price's Patent Candle has held the Royal Warrant – either in its own name or through its subsidiaries Francis Tucker and Charles Farris – since the 1850s. Today it holds the Royal Warrant in its own