In England, the most popular way of decorating was with petals, which made colorful imprints. The Wordsworth Museum in the Lake District still has a collection of eggs made for the poet's children from the 1870s.

It was founded by Joseph Fry in 1728. He invested in Walter Churchman, who patented a new and higly effective way to grind cocoa beans. After Joseph died his wife Anna took over, until their son Joseph Storrs Fry took charge. He invented a successful cocoa bean roaster but later neglected the business.Cadbury Brothers Limited first registered with us on 13 June 1899, with 5 members of the Cadbury family listed as the governing directors. In a similar way to Fry’s, several decades later on the 4 January 1970, the company passed a special resolution to change its name to Cadbury Schweppes Overseas Limited. This remains its name today, still being an active company on the UK register – alongside multiple limited companies with the Cadbury name. You can view their long filing history, including the original 1899 incorporation documents, on Companies House Service. For the Victorians, chocolate was much more accessible but still something of an indulgence. Thirty years later, in 1873, Fry's developed the first chocolate Easter egg as a luxury treat, merging the two gift-giving traditions. Left): Advertisement c. 1910; (right): Drink FRY'S pure breakfast COCOA. "No Better Food". Advertisement for Fry's on the cover of The Strand Magazine, September 1917

Others though, insist the history is more aligned with the festival of Lent and Western Europe, where Christians were forbidden from eating eggs during the period, and that this was from Medieval times. There may be some weight within this belief, as it was customary to use up all the eggs in the home before Lent, knowing that they could not be eaten again until forty days later at Easter. What is the history behind giving chocolate at Easter? Chocolate remained expensive into the 19th century, when Fry's (now part of Cadbury) made the first solid chocolate bars in 1847, revolutionizing the chocolate trade.Sharing the Easter egg news, one member posted an image of the product on the shelves at Iceland and was met with a flood of comments. ‘Turkish Delight egg I’m in heaven,’ one person commented. ‘Need this in my belly.’ Generations of Bristol families produced Fry’s and Cadbury’s chocolate treats - like Chocolate Cream, Turkish Delight, Curly Wurly, Crunchie - at the Keynsham building until it closed its doors in 2011. Bought out by Kraft Foods, who had originally agreed to keep the factory open, chocolate production was transferred to Poland, putting more than 500 local people out of work. In 1847, the Fry's chocolate factory on Union Street, Bristol, moulded a chocolate bar suitable for large-scale production. [1] [3] The firm began producing the Fry's Chocolate Cream bar in 1866. [1] Although it was not unheard of cacao being consumed in solid form, [9] Fry's is considered the first chocolate bar suitable for widespread consumption. [2] [3] [10] Over 220 products were introduced in the following decades, including the UK's first chocolate Easter egg in 1873 and Fry's Turkish Delight (or "Fry's Turkish bar") in 1914. [11] In 1896, the firm became a registered private company, run by the Fry family, with Joseph Storrs Fry II, grandson of the first Joseph Storrs Fry, as the chairman. [12]

Although dyeing patterned eggs is still a common Easter activity, these days eggs are more commonly associated with chocolate. But when did this shift happen?After Joseph died, J.S. Fry & Sons went into business with Cadbury's and the business moved to Somerdale in 1935. During the 1950s Fry's was the fastest-growing chocolate firm in Britain, thanks to old favourites being revitalised and new lines introduced. By the end of the 1960s Cadbury's and Fry's had fully merged and several old-classics, such as Five Boys, disappeared or took on the Cadbury name.