United Alkali Company Limited was a British
chemical
A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...
company formed in 1890, employing the
Leblanc process to produce
soda ash
Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...
for the
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
,
textile
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
,
soap
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...
, and
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...
industries.
It became one of the top four British chemical companies merged in 1926 with
Brunner Mond Brunner may refer to:
Places
* Brunner, New Zealand
* Lake Brunner, New Zealand
* Brunner Mine, New Zealand
* Brunner, Houston, United States
* Brunner (crater), lunar crater
Other uses
* Brunner (surname)
* Brunner the Bounty Hunter, a cha ...
,
Nobel Explosives and
British Dyestuffs Corporation
British Dyestuffs Corporation Ltd was a British company formed in 1919 from the merger of British Dyes Ltd with Levinstein Ltd. The British Government was the company's largest shareholder, and had two directors on the board.
Background
By 191 ...
to form
Imperial Chemical Industries.
History
United Alkali was formed on 1 November 1890 when 48 chemical companies from the Tyne, Scotland, Ireland and Lancashire were merged. These included Newcastle Chemical Works, Allhusen, Gateshead; Atlas Chemical of Widnes; Henry Baxter of St Helens; Gaskell, Deacon of Widnes; Globe Alkali of St Helens; Golding-Davis of Widnes; Irvine Chemical of Scotland; A G Kurtz of St Helens; James Muspratt of Widnes and Liverpool; Runcorn Soap and Alkali; Charles Tennant of St Rollox, Glasgow; Wigg Brothers and Steele of Runcorn.
The merged companies were:
Following the merger of the companies, some concerns were raised about the impact on employment. In
Robert Sherard
Robert Harborough Sherard (3 December 1861 – 30 January 1943) was an English writer and journalist. He was a friend, and the first biographer, of Oscar Wilde, as well as being Wilde's most prolific biographer in the first half of the twenti ...
's ''The White Slaves of England'' (1896) he quotes of the impact in Runcorn, where the Alkali factory previously employed about 500 men but fewer than ten after amalgamation.
See also
*
Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Company Limited
Bibliography
* Fenton, Roy S. ''Mersey Rovers''. World Ship Society, 1997.
References
External links
Grace's Guide: United Alkali Co
Chemical companies established in 1890
Chemical companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Cheshire
Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
History of Cheshire
Manufacturing companies established in 1890
Widnes
1890 establishments in England
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