Dr William Norman Stokoe

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRIC LLD (1892–1958) was a 20th century British organic chemist. He is primarily remembered as the scientist behind Britain's push on the consumption of

margarine Margarine (, also , ) is a spread used for flavoring, baking, and cooking. It is most often used as a substitute for butter. Although originally made from animal fats, most margarine consumed today is made from vegetable oil. The spread was orig ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a cheap way of introducing dietary supplements to the British population.

Life

His career in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

began in 1918 as Chief Chemist at the Craigmillar Creamery Co. In 1926 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Alexander Lauder,

George Barger George Barger FRS FRSE FCS LLD (4 April 1878 – 5 January 1939) was a British chemist. Life He was born to an English mother, Eleanor Higginbotham, and Gerrit Barger, a Dutch engineer in Manchester, England. He was educated at Utrecht and T ...

, Sir James Walker and

Ralph Allan Sampson Ralph Allan (or Allen) Sampson FRS FRSE LLD (25 June 1866 – 7 November 1939) was a British astronomer. Life Sampson was born in Schull, County Cork in Ireland, then part of the UK. He was the fourth of five children to James Sampson, a Corn ...

. In the

he served as Technical Advisor to the British government on Margarine Production. This was in the wake of general butter shortages in Britain. Margarine was used to fill the place of butter as a cheaper and more readily available product. A wider health issue was also addressed through the artificial addition of vitamins to margarine from that time. In 1948 he moved from Edinburgh to Bromborough Port on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

, where he became Chief Chemist to Van Den Bergh & Jurgens Ltd, then Britain's largest manufacturer of margarine, and later to merge to become part of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

. During this period he did much to improve the palatability of margarine. He retired in 1957 died in

on 12 December 1958.

Family

He was father to Norman Leslie Stokoe (1923-2017).Scotsman (newspaper) obituaries: 5 September 2017

Publications

*''Rancidity of Butter and Margarine Fats'' (1921) *''Rancidity of Coconut Oil'' (1928)

References

1892 births 1958 deaths British chemists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-chemist-stub