National Benzole was founded in February 1919[1] in a room next to the boiler house of the Gas Light and Coke Company in London's Horseferry Road.

A group of men, including Samuel Henshaw, then the chairman of the Staffordshire Chemical Company, reckoned there was money to be made from these surplus-to-requirements stocks.

[1] A distribution network was established consisting of a few (initially) storage depots round the country, supplied by a small fleet of used lorries with solid tyres, acquired from the War Disposals Board.

[1] The young company received a boost in 1920 with the award of the RAC Dewar Trophy to a Rolls-Royce 40/50 hp that successfully completed a 10,000-mile reliability trial fuelled exclusively by National Benzole.

[1] Because garages were initially sparse, the Automobile Association (AA) itself set up twelve strategically located filling stations, supplying fuel only to its own members and making no profit from the transactions.

[1] Ten years later the head office had relocated to an upmarket location in London's Grosvenor Gardens and a sales force was recruited, equipped with Morris Cowleys painted yellow, which had become the company's colour.

To sustain the success, an imaginative advertising campaign was developed, and in 1928, Mr Mercury – startlingly naked – leapt for the first time from the pages of the national newspapers.

Mr. Mercury, in National Benzole's black and chrome gold corporate colours, became one of the most powerful marketing images of this age.

Mr. Mercury returned in 1953, now more modestly attired in the advertisements, though he retained his winged helmet, and National Benzole quickly re-established itself as a market leader.

It reduced but did not eliminate the company's dependence on the UK coal mining cartel, while it introduced an inherent tension in the relationship with the petroleum suppliers who were also major competitors for road fuel sales.

[1] Benzole (no longer part of the mixture) was dropped from the fuel's name and Mr. Mercury's black and chrome gave way to sparkling new yellow, blue and white.