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The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in
Staveley Staveley may refer to:
Places
* Staveley, Cumbria, village in the former county of Westmorland and now in Cumbria, England
** Staveley railway station
* Staveley-in-Cartmel, village formerly in Lancashire, now in Cumbria, England
* Staveley, D ...
, near
Chesterfield
Chesterfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan
* Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom
* Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England
** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
,
North Derbyshire.
History
The company was registered in 1863, appearing in provincial stock exchange reports from 1864. It exploited local ironstone quarried from land owned by the
Duke of Devonshire on the outskirts of the village. It developed into
coal mining, owning several collieries and also into chemical production, first from those available from
coal tar
Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psorias ...
distillation, later to cover a wide and diverse range. Part of the plant at Staveley was a
sulphuric acid manufacturing unit making use of the
Contact Process.
It was during the years of World War 1 that the company developed its chemical operations beyond coal-tar chemicals and began production of sulphuric and
nitric acid
Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...
s. During the war they also made
picric acid,
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
and
guncotton
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...
. Following the end of hostilities the company laid plans to develop a range of
chlorinated organics and to this end purchased salt-bearing land near
Sandbach, Cheshire. The salt was produced by a new company formed specifically for the purpose and named the British Soda Company. The salt being needed to feed a new installation of mercury cells at the Staveley works. The first cells at Staveley came into operation in 1922 and in 1926 they went into partnership with the
Krebs Company of Paris and Berlin to develop a new cell, which was based on lessons learned. This was marketed worldwide as the
Krebs-Staveley cell. This installation lasted into the late 1950s when the cellroom at Staveley was replaced with German-made mercury cells.
Another salt-related product was
sodium chlorate
Sodium chlorate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Na ClO3. It is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water. It is hygroscopic. It decomposes above 300 °C to release oxygen and leaves sodium chloride. Sever ...
. Staveley Coal and Iron Company were the first company in Britain to manufacture this chemical, with the plant becoming operational in 1938. In 1950, the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company was named by
Imperial Chemical Industries as one of their main competitors in
caustic soda
Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations and hydroxide anions .
Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali ...
production.
In 1960, the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company, which had been taken over by
Stewarts & Lloyds Limited was merged with the Ilkeston-based Stanton Iron Works to form Stanton and Staveley Ltd. In 1967, Stewarts and Lloyds became part of the nationalised
British Steel Corporation
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, Stanton and Staveley were also incorporated.
By 1980, BSC sold off sections of the site as they divested themselves of non-core activities and by 2007 most of the former works at Staveley has been shut down and cleared. The last plant remaining was a
p-aminophenol
4-Aminophenol (or ''para''-aminophenol or ''p''-aminophenol) is an organic compound with the formula H2NC6H4OH. Typically available as a white powder, it is commonly used as a developer for black-and-white film, marketed under the name Rodinal.
Re ...
plant that produced active ingredients for
paracetamol production. The site ceased production in June 2012, ending over 100 years of chemical production at Staveley. The site has since been demolished.
Eric Varley
Eric Graham Varley, Baron Varley, (11 August 1932 – 29 July 2008) was a British Labour Party politician and cabinet minister on the right-wing of the party.
Early life
Varley was born at 15 Poolsbrook Square, Poolsbrook, Staveley, near C ...
, a former Chesterfield
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP and cabinet minister, was an apprentice with the company after leaving school before becoming a trade union official and, much latter,
Chairman of another local firm
Coalite
Coalite is a brand of low-temperature coke used as a smokeless fuel. The title refers to the residue left behind when coal is carbonised at . It was invented by Thomas Parker in 1904. In 1936 the Smoke Abatement Society awarded its inventor a ...
.
The location of the former works has due to be redeveloped as a infrastructure depot for phase 2B of the planned
HS2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...
high speed railway due to open in 2033
References
External links
Duke of Portland papers- related to coal leases (Derbyshire & Notts area)
{{Authority control
Coal companies of England
Chemical companies of England
Defunct energy companies of the United Kingdom
Ironworks and steelworks in England
Mining in Derbyshire
Companies based in Derbyshire
Energy companies established in 1863
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1863
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1960
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1960
1863 establishments in England
1960 disestablishments in England
Defunct companies of England
British companies established in 1863