![Isaac Reckitt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Isaac_Reckitt.jpg)
Isaac Reckitt (1792–1862) was the founder of
Reckitt and Sons
Reckitt and Sons was a leading British manufacturer of household products, notably starch, black lead, laundry blue, and household polish, and based in Kingston upon Hull.
Isaac Reckitt began business in Hull in 1840, and his business becam ...
, a business that emerged to become
Reckitt
Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, trading as Reckitt, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, England. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition products. The company was formed in March 1999 by the merge ...
, one of 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 ...
's largest
consumer goods
A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...
businesses.
Career
Initially establishing a milling business in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
with his older brother and then a corn business in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
on his own, Isaac Reckitt acquired a
starch
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...
-making business in
Hull in 1840.
Under his leadership the business diversified into
black lead and
washing blue
Bluing, laundry blue, dolly blue or washing blue is a household product used to improve the appearance of textiles, especially white fabrics. Used during laundering, it adds a trace of blue dye (often synthetic ultramarine, sometimes Prussian bl ...
manufacturing.
[
By the time of his death in 1862 the business employed 210 people and had become one of the most successful businesses in Hull.][
The firm was left equally to three of his sons, George (1825–1900), Francis (1827–1917) and ]James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
(1833–1924).
See also
*Reckitt baronets
The Reckitt Baronetcy, of Swanland Manor in the Parish of North Ferriby in the East Riding of the County of York, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1894 for the businessman and philanthropist James Re ...
References
1792 births
1862 deaths
British businesspeople
Reckitt people
Reckitt family
19th-century British businesspeople
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