Action for Libel

From the Glasgow Herald, 9th September, 1914; Colne Valley Guardian, 18th September, 1914;  Huddersfield Examiner, 14th September, 1914; and probably many other newspapers across the country.  

Text:  ACTION FOR LIBEL.
J. LYONS & CO.  Limited (Plaintiffs) v. LIPTON, Limited (Defendants).

In the High Court of Justice Mr. Justice Sankey, on September 8th, 1914, granted an Interim Injunction restraining Lipton Limited, their Agents and Servants, from speaking or publishing or writing and publishing any words to the effect or of the substance that J. Lyons & Co., Limited, or the Directorate thereof, is composed of Germans, and that by purchasing their commodities the public is assisting the enemies of Great Britain.

J. Lyons & Co., Ltd. (By Appointment to His Majesty the King), is an all-British company with all-British directors, has 14,000 all-British shareholders, and 160,000 all-British shopkeepers selling Lyon's Tea.
Cadby Hall, Kensington, London, W.

[The allegation that J. Lyons & Co. was partly a German company was obviously felt to be extremely damaging.  There was a great antipathy during the war to anyone who was thought, or imagined, to have links with Germany or her allies.  Kate Adie, in her book Fighting on the Home Front, describes how her grandmother, Ethel Maud Hedinburgh, had a difficult time during the war, including being questioned by the police, because her father was originally Austrian, even though he had lived in England for decades, and she was married to a British citizen and had two small (British) children.]