John Lea and William Perrins were 19th Century chemists who ran a pharmacy. On a fateful day in 1835, Lord Marcus Sandys, who had been the governor of Bengal in the British colony of India, showed up at their pharmacy, located on the Broad Street in Worcester. He was desperately seeking the recipe for a fish based Indian sauce and asked the two to recreate it. The two men concocted their own version which turned out to be a disaster. To save face, they hid the mixture in a barrel underground and conveniently forgot about it. Alas! They were destined to be famous.
After about two years, they discovered the barrel. Before discarding it forever, they decided to taste it for one last time and voila! The sauce had aged through the years rendering a unique taste and aroma. They bought the rights of the recipe and that's how the distribution of 'Lea and Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce' began.