Penhaligon's

My post on the House of Creed got me to thinking about another iconic fragrance with aristocratic British ties. Since its launch in 1870, Penhaligon’s has established a reputation for luxury fragrances of the highest caliber. Synonymous with style and quality, the company was founded by the witty, eccentric and wildly creative William Penhaligon.

Born in Penzance, he moved to London in the late 1860s and set up a barbershop next door to the decadent Hammam Turkish baths in Piccadilly. In 1872 he fused his first fragrance, a crazy conception inspired, rather strangely, by the steam and sulphur of the Hammam and thus Hammam Bouquet was created.

He further secured his reputation by creating scents for the nobility of his day. Blenheim Bouquet, created for the Duke of Marlborough in 1902, was to become a particular favorite of another distinguished icon of that family, Winston Churchill. Gentlemen's scents up to this time were usually rich and floral; Blenheim Bouquet was one of the first citrus scents created. With a bright and zesty lemon scent, it remains to date one of the company’s best selling men’s fragrances.

By the end of Queen Victoria's reign, William Penhaligon had been appointed Barber and Perfumer to the Royal Court. Since that time, Penhaligon's has been awarded Royal Warrants by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra in 1903, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh in 1956 and, most recently, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in 1988.

By the early 1970's, Penhaligon's catered largely to the great and good whose families had used the Company's products for generations. A new era began with the opening of the flagship store in Covent Garden in 1975 and other shops have since been established in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Windsor, Chester, Madison Avenue in New York and Rue St Honore in Paris.