Abel Hoadley (10 September 1844 – 12 May 1918) was a manufacturer of jams and sauces, remembered today as the inventor of the popular Australian confectionery bar the Violet Crumble. History Hoadley was born in Willingdon, East Sussex, England, the son of Peter Hoadley, blacksmith, and Elizabeth Ann Hoadley, née Wheeler. Hoadley arrived in Australia in 1865. His first business was manufacturing and selling jams and pickles, with produce fresh from his own orchard in Burwood East. In 1889, Hoadley opened a jam factory in South Melbourne, Victoria, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. In 1892 he made a trial shipment of preserved fruit to England, with encouraging results. By 1894 he was selling "Rising Sun" brand jams in tins; in 1895 the "Rising Sun" brand was applied to a range of jams, sauces and confectionery. Business was good, and in 1895 a new five storey factory was opened at 222 Park Street, South Melbourne, where the jams and preserves were manufactured and canned on the upper floors. In 1910 the business, apart from confectionery, was sold to Henry Jones Co-operative Limited. Confectionery Although Hoadley had much earlier advertised his company as "confectioners", this aspect of production was not prominently advertised, and may have only served to keep the business running between the various fruit seasons. They began advertising milk chocolate in 1909 and toffees in 1912. In 1913 a new company, Hoadley's Chocolates Limited was formed with a capital of £75,000. Confectionery was from around 1913 manufactured at "Barrackville", on St Kilda Road, South Melbourne, at the Coventry Street corner. The factory was totally destroyed by fire in January 1919. The company took out a lease on a nearby block of land bounded by Coventry, Hanna and Dorcas Streets and turned the old site into a public park. The new factory was also given the name "Barrackville", and "Hoadley's Barrackville Cocoa and Chocolate" became a trade name, perhaps echoing Cadbury's Bournville Cocoa. Hoadley's "Violet" chocolates first appeared as a brand name in 1917, and their "Violet mixture" in 1921. This would appear to be their "premium" line, as they sold for nearly 50% more than their "Barrackville" mixture. The Violet Crumble Bar When he produced his first chocolate assortment, Hoadley packed it with a piece of honeycomb. The honeycomb became so popular that Hoadley decided to produce an individual honeycomb bar. This was not an easy task; as the