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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