Haltermann Carless is the present-day continuation of one of the earliest oil companies.
History
* 1859: Carless was formed by Eugene Carless. Its base was the Hope Chemical Works in Hackney Wick.
* 1860: Carless became Carless, Blagdon and Company, when William George Blagdon joined in partnership.
* 1870: Carless, Blagdon and Company was dissolved by Blagdon. George Bligh Capel became a partner in the firm. Carless started selling a volatile inflammable
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
distillate tradename
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
d '
Petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
'. That is where the word "petrol" came from. At first it was often used as a
solvent
A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvÅ'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
, including to remove
nits by dissolving the natural glue that the female
louse
Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...
uses to stick the nit to the hair. When
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
s were invented, petrol was found to be suitable fuel for them.
* 1872: Carless, Capel and Leonard formed. John Hare Leonard joined Capel as a partner. Carless was no longer a partner but was retained by the new company as the manager of its works.
* 1893: Frederick Simms, on behalf of Gottlieb Daimler, visited Carless, Capel, and Leonard to form and agreement to use the Launch Spirit for Daimler Launches. It was a result of this meeting that the company began to use the word Petrol to distinguish is product from other motor spirit products. The word 'petrol' is still the generic name for
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
used throughout the UK.
* 1996: Petrochem Distribution BVBA was established.
* 2000: Petrochem UK acquired Carless from the Spanish
Repsol-YPF Group. The resulting company is now called Petrochem Carless Ltd.
* 2013: The company was acquired by HCS Group and rebranded Haltermann Carless.
Operations
Halterman Carless has operations in Leatherhead,
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
and Stanlow in the UK, and Hamburg and Speyer in Germany.
[Halterman Carless https://www.haltermann-carless.com/contact-us]
References
{{reflist
External links
*https://web.archive.org/web/20151121234547/http://haltermann-carless.com/en/about-us/history
*Pioneers of Petrol - A Centenary History of Carless, Capel and Leonard 1859-1959 - Edward Liveing - 1959
*Carless, Capel and Leonard plc - The Growth of a Family Firm into an International Oil Company - Peter Pugh - 1986
Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom