Edward Packard, senior (1819–1899), was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
businessman who founded and developed a major artificial fertilizer industry near
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, Suffolk in the mid-nineteenth century, and became a wealthy and prominent figure in the life of the Borough. His son,
Sir Edward Packard, junior (28 September 1843 – 11 April 1932) developed ''Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited'' ('
Fisons
Fisons plc was a British multinational pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company headquartered in Ipswich, United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Ind ...
') into one of the largest
fertiliser
A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...
manufacturing businesses in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
Biography
Edward Packard senior, born at
Hasketon
Hasketon is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk District of Suffolk, England.
Its church, St. Andrews, is one of 38 existing round-tower churches in Suffolk. St. Andrews stands more or less at the centre of its scattered parish, a ...
near
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a port and market town in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and forms part of the wider Ipswich built-up area. The town is close to some major a ...
in 1819, built up the E. Packard & Co. business in artificial fertilizers at
Bramford
Bramford is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is three miles west of Ipswich of which it forms part of the wider Ipswich Built-up area. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as "Brunfort" or "Branfort". The River Gipp ...
near
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
, Suffolk, based upon
Professor J.S. Henslow's recognition in 1843 that the so-called "
Coprolites
A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is de ...
" at the basement bed of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
Red Crag Formation
The Red Crag Formation is a geological formation in England. It outcrops in south-eastern Suffolk and north-eastern Essex. The name derives from its iron-stained reddish colour and ''crag'' which is an East Anglian word for shells. It is part of th ...
of Suffolk were rich in
phosphates
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...
. Henslow, as the honorific President of
Ipswich Museum
Ipswich Museum is a registered museum of culture, history and natural heritage located on High Street in Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk. It was historically the leading regional museum in Suffolk, housing collections drawn from both the fo ...
, worked to shape that institution into a resource for scientific education.
Commencing experimental workings at
Snape in 1843, and entering contracts for supply of the raw materials (freighted by barges and lighters), Packard set up his first factory in Ipswich in an old flour-mill on the Orwell quay in 1847. This was used as a coprolite warehouse after he relocated the processing works to Bramford (by 1854), as rail freight became available and the sulphurous fumes from the works demanded more rural location. Such was his success that the elder Packard (nicknamed 'The Coprolite King' or, more informally, 'the Golden Muck-Man of Ipswich') served as Mayor of the Borough in 1868.
He contributed immensely to the town's Victorian prosperity. He was an
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...
for
Ipswich Municipal Council
The City of Ipswich is a local government area in Queensland, Australia, located within the southwest of the Brisbane metropolitan area, including the urban area surrounding the city of Ipswich and surrounding rural areas.
Geography
The C ...
and served as
Mayor in 1868-9. He was also the Chair of the Ipswich Corporation's museum committee which advocated the recruitment of the geologist
John Ellor Taylor
John Ellor Taylor (1837, Levenshulme, England–1895, Ipswich, England) was an English popular science writer, journalist and museum curator.
Early life
The eldest son of William Taylor (died 1864), foreman in a Lancashire cotton-factory, and ...
as Curator in 1872. Taylor had founded the Norwich Science-Gossip Society and became the founding example for the sister Society in Ipswich, in which the sons of the town's industry-owning families met regularly to improve their scientific knowledge and understanding of its industrial applications. As the Crag workings for coprolites produced many unusual fossils the Museum's collections were also greatly enriched. In addition to Crag specimens, Packard notably obtained and presented a near-complete
ichthyosaur skeleton from the
Lias
Lias may refer to:
Geology
* Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France
*Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe
* Early Jurassic, an epoch
People
* Godfrey Lias, British author
* Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...
at
Street, Somerset
Street is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 11,805 in 2011. On a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, it is south-west of Glastonbury. There is evidence of Roman occupation ...
for the benefit of the New Museum opened in 1880, where it can still be seen.
Packard took Dr. Taylor to inspect his phosphate mines in southern France, in the area of the
Puy de Dôme
Puy de Dôme (, ; oc, label=Auvergnat, Puèi Domat or ) is a lava dome and one of the youngest volcanoes in the region of Massif Central in central France. This chain of volcanoes including numerous cinder cones, lava domes and maars is ...
, in 1876, and Taylor responded with deep interest. Packard resigned his Chairmanship of the Museum Committee (making way for his son) when Taylor's ill health led to his enforced retirement in 1893. Taylor was succeeded as Curator by his friend
Frank Woolnough
Frank Woolnough (1845–1930) was the curator of Ipswich Museum from 1893–1920. He also published material under the pseudonym Felix Walton.
In ''A History of Ipswich Museum'' he wrote:
:''"A curator tries to leave behind him true records for t ...
, but it was not until after Taylor's death in 1895 that Packard was willing to accept the role of President of the Museum for a short period until his death in 1899.
[Plunkett, 'Dr John Ellor Taylor', at p. 191.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packard, Edward
1819 births
1899 deaths
British businesspeople
19th-century British businesspeople