BP

Maps from Great Britain

The origins of the BP brand name lie with a German-controlled company which was formed in 1906 under the name Europäische Petroleum Union. Before the First World War it had gained over a third of the rapidly growing market for petrol in Britain, ironically distributing products on behalf of Shell. Classified as an enemy concern, it was it was taken over by the Government then sold to the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1917. Anglo-Persian, which was established by William D'Arcy in 1901 to exploit oil properties in Persia (Iran) and become a major supplier of oil to the navy, had itself sold a 50% stake to the British Government earlier in the War. Lacking its own domestic distribution, Anglo-Persian soon adopted the B.P. brand name, although the official name of the parent company did not become British Petroleum until 1954, after its Iranian interests had been nationalised.

The first BP sheet maps of Britain date from the mid 1950s (probably 1954 in Shell-BP covers, and 1956 in BP covers, with a BP atlas in a plain dark green cover from the same year). All had cartography by George Philip & Son at 5 miles to the inch, except for the small scale touring map by John Bartholomew. The 1950s maps used green and brown shading to indicate topography, but after 1960 a simpler white landmass was used. The booklet opened out to include 12 pages of two-colour maps at 13½ miles to the inch, overprinted with the green shield of BP for service stations with extended hours; address details and services available at these 212 locations were also listed.

6 sections from ca1954-1959. Colours vary with section. These maps appear in Shell, BP and Shell-BP versions. A separate London map (1b) was introduced ca1957.		1961 planning map for touring service	1960-1 Colours vary with section 6 sections	1960 Early Opening Late Closing Map booklet

In 1962 George Philip & Son updated the cartography at an enlarged scale of 4 miles to the inch for the sectional maps, with Ireland 6 miles to the inch. The two planning maps used the lesser scale of 16 miles to the inch; two versions of the 1966 map have been found. The one with the regular paper cover has pale blue sea and blue motorway signs, but the same year's map in a vinyl cover has a light green sea and black motorway signs. This map was treated rather poorly by the cartographer - as late as 1967 it still showed the old British road signs which had been superseded by the international style in 1965.

1963-7 10 sections	1968-70 and 1971-3. Again 10 sections, but with Scotland rearranged so the Western Isles had a section of their own. The same pictures were used for each series.		The 1966 planning map had a green vinyl cover; it can also be found with the paper cover design of 1963-7. The 1970 planning map had a card cover pasted over a grey cover, to a continental design not used in Britain.

From 1974, George Philip introduced a metric cartography at 1:200,000 (3.16 miles to the inch) except for Northern Scotland at 1:300,000 and London at the imperial 1:84,480. By using a larger sheet size the number of maps fell to nine.

		(shown at 2/3rds scale)
1974-78 - same 3 photos on reverse	1975 Motorway strip maps		1981 - Single large photo on reverse	1984-5 joint BP/National - small photo on reverse; cover shows part of actual map
No BP maps are known dated 1972, 1979-80, 1982-3 or 1986. It is possible that maps were not made for all sections in each of the years 1974-8, with only those titles needing updating or that had sold out being reprinted.

In 1987 it became the first UK petrol company to move to the Automobile Association's new computer cartography, keeping nine sections at the same scales as before. The set was reissued with the same covers the following year, but on semi-gloss paper, which was kept for the 1990 series using the modified shield on the cover. No sheet maps have been produced since 1990. The AA sheet map designs show a section of the actual map inside; they are only numbered on the reverse.
Now that BP no longer produced updated maps each year, atlases became more popular. The white 1989 paperback atlas shown below was for a BP Visco oil promotion and retained the older George Philip designs at 5 miles to the inch, but unlike the red hardback edition (dating from 1982) omitted maps of London as a cost-saving exercise.

(shown at 2/3rds scale)

(shown at 2/3rds scale)

Finally two BP "Pictorial Maps", probably dating from the early or mid-1950s. Each unfolds to reveal a illustrated map, 42x26cm in size, of key sights to see in the area described; they are not useable as a road map. Similar in concept to the pictorial guides on the reverse of many 1950s Esso maps, only two examples are known - The Lake District "Poets' Corner of England" and The Vale of Avon "Shakespeare's Country". No publisher is credited, although they are marked No. 160 and No. 97 respectively. The Lake District's cover was by Goetz, but in each case the style of the interior map differs from the cover. It is not known if other titles were produced, either for BP or other customers.
In the mid 1960s, BP service stations sold the series of Shell and BP Shilling Guides to the counties of Britain.

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Text and layout © Ian Byrne, 2000-7