"Glad eyes when they see Fry's!"

Advertising slogan, about 1916.

In 1914 Fry's chocolate manufacturers were probably the largest employer in Bristol. During the war, the firm produced large amounts of cocoa and hundreds of millions of bars of chocolate. These were sent to training camps in Britain and shipped to troops in the various theatres of war. Chocolate was also included in parcels sent to Prisoners of War. In the early years of the war, the Engineering department at Fry’s produced large shells, to help meet the need for munitions. Over 1,000 men who worked for Fry's enlisted, of whom 127 were killed. Packer & Co., another local chocolate manufacturer, equipped and ran one of Bristol’s war hospitals, the Bruce Cole Hospital in Whitehall.