H.H. & S. Budgett was a leading wholesale grocer covering South-West England, South Wales and the London area. It began about 1820 when Samuel Budgett (1794 – 1851) became in turn: apprentice, journeyman and partner to his half-brother Henry Hill Budgett (c 1779 – 1849) in the latter's small shop in Kingswood, Bristol. Samuel had a passion for trading. He introduced the practice of buying in bulk and delivering to other small shops like his own. This grew rapidly so that, at the time of his death in 1851, Samuel was giving away £2,000 per annum out of his share of the profits and the company had customers from Birmingham to Penzance. His descendants and non-family partners continued to manage the business well and it flourished for over a century. Budgetts were taken over in 1961 by Scribbans-Kemp. They still continued, still with family members on the board but gradually declined as a business under the relentless pressure of the supermarkets. Although they changed to some extent: opening Cash & Carry Warehouses for retailers and buying retail shops themselves, they had failed to seize a strong position in the supermarket trade at an early stage and consequently were perhaps bound to fail in the long run. By 1977 Budgetts, together with Oakeshotts, had been sold for “almost £5m”. Initially, the purchaser was Warriner and Mason, a subsidiary of Gallagher. Later, Warriner and Mason were to sell the cash & carry business to Bookers and the wholesale delivered business to Danish Bacon Company. Beginning Samuel Budgett and Henry Hill Budgett were both sons of James Budgett (1749–1823). Henry was the elder son of James's first marriage – to Ann Hill (1755–1787). After she died, James married Elizabeth (Betsy) Budgett (1767–1831) and Samuel was their first son. The family moved several times. In 1801 they took the shop in Kingswood. In 1803 parents and children moved again to Coleford, Somerset leaving Henry Hill Budgett in charge of the shop. The young Samuel had two passions: to be a missionary and to be a trader. His family were poor. They could not afford a missionary's education and they were in need of an extra breadwinner so a trader it had to be. In April 1809 he signed indentures to be an apprentice to Henry but already he was a trader. He had made many trades with whatever he could find and before he