The Greyhound

William and Thomas were both bluecoat scholars and chose to use the bluecoat boy as their initial trademark in 1770. 

Thomas Reeves later discovered the greyhound crest which was subsequently adopted as the Reeves trademark by William John Reeves, the nephew of William.

This heraldic device had been taken from the arms of the extinct Ryves family of Dorset and was combined with that of their partner William Woodyer.

It consisted of a black-seated greyhound spotted with gold and set into a large disk or coin.

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The same shield without the dog was adopted by John Inwood, who after William’s death considered himself the true inheritor of the Reeves tradition.

Inwood continued to use William Reeves’ name and impressed the words ‘original invention’ on his cakes.

 However, Inwood inadvertently copied the Woodyer coat of arms.

Thomas’ family were so angry they and their descendents warned customers in generations of catalogues ever since to beware of imitators.

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