Prentice Brothers Limited was an English

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 ...

manufacturer founded in

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edm ...

, Suffolk during the mid-1850s. The company produced a number of " chemical manure" products that used

coprolite 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 ...

s and

rock phosphate Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pentoxi ...

s among other ingredients.

History

The Prentice family was prominent in Stowmarket at the time and operated a number of other businesses including a

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

, corn and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

merchants,

maltster Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most o ...

s and a Guncotton Company. The fertiliser business was founded by Thomas Prentice and by 1866 was being run by his brothers, Eustace and Edward. Manning Prentice joined the business in 1871 after Edward was killed in the nearby Guncotton explosion. Manning Prentice developed patented techniques and processes around acids. In 1922 a fire destroyed part of the works and needed to be rebuilt, and the 1920s was a problematic period for the industry partly due to falling demand. In 1929 the company merged with Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited whose company was subsequently renamed to Fison, Packard & Prentice, Limited. The Prentice and Fison families had previously been joined by the marriage. That company then formally changed its name to the shorter

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 ...

Ltd in 1942.Early history of the company to 1960
at UK Competition Commission, 1960. (PDF) Accessed September 2007

The Food Museum The Food Museum, formerly the Museum of East Anglian Life, is a museum in Stowmarket, Suffolk, England, which specialises in presenting the agricultural history of East Anglia through a mixture of exhibits and living history demonstrations. Hi ...

has a number of items from the company including a coprolite grinding stone apparently used by the company.

Location

The Prentice Chemical Works was located on the eastern side of the railway line approaching to Stowmarket railway station. The business made use of the railway to transport its goods. Today, the area is occupied by the Tomo Industrial Estate.

References

{{coord, 52.186590, 1.004999, region:GB, display=title Companies based in Suffolk Chemical companies of the United Kingdom 1843 establishments in England British companies disestablished in 1929 Defunct companies of England British companies established in 1856

History

Location

See also

References