United Alkali Company Limited was a British chemical company formed in 1890, employing the Leblanc process to produce soda ash for the glass, textile, soap, and paper industries.[1] It became one of the top four British chemical companies merged in 1926 with Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives and British Dyestuffs Corporation 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.[2] The merged companies were: • # Henry Baxter of St Helens
• # Globe Alkali Co of St Helens
• # Greenbank Alkali Works Co of St Helens
• # A. G. Kurtz and Co of St Helens
• # James McBryde and Co of St Helens
• # William Chadwick and Sons t/a St Helens Chemical Co of St Helens
• # Sutton Lodge Chemical Co of St Helens
• # Thomas Walker of St Helens
• # Gaskell, Deacon and Co of Widnes
• # Golding Davis and Co of Widnes
• # Robert Shaw t/a Hall Brothers and Shaw of Widnes
• # Hay Gordon and Co of Widnes
• # John Hutchinson and Co of Widnes
• # Liver Alkali Works of Widnes
• # Niel Mathieson and Co of Widnes
• # Mort, Liddell and Co of Widnes
• # Muspratt Bros. and Huntley of Flint
• # James Muspratt and Sons of Widnes and Liverpool
• # W. Pilkington and Son of Widnes
• # The Runcorn Soap and Alkali Works of Runcorn and Weston
• # Thomas Snape of Widnes
• # Sullivan and Co of Widnes
• # The Widnes Alkali Co of Widnes
• # Wigg Brothers and Steele of Widnes
• # The Netham Chemical Co of Bristol
• # Hazlehurst and Sons of Runcorn
• # Heworth Alkali Co of Heworth-on-Tyne
• # Jarrow Chemical Co of Jarrow-on-Tyne
• # Newcastle Chemical Works of Gateshead
• # J. G. and W. H. Richardson of Jarrow-on-Tyne
• # Seaham Chemical Works of Seaham Harbour
• # St Bede Chemical Co of Jarrow-on-Tyne
• # Charles Tennant and Partners of Hebburn-on-Tyne
• # Wallsend Chemical Co of Wallsend-on-Tyne
• # Eglinton Chemical Co of Irvine
• # Irvine Chemical Co of Irvine
• # North British Chemical Co of Dalmuir
• # Charles Tennant and Co of St Rollox, Glasgow
• # Boyd, Son and Co of Dublin
• # Newcastle Chemical Works of Port Clarence
• # Charles Tennant and Partners of Port Clarence
• # Fleetwood Salt Co of Fleetwood
• # E. Bramwell and Son of St Helens
• # Morgan Mooney of Dublin
• # Dublin and Wicklow Manure Co of Dublin
• # Peter Alfred Mawdsley of Flint
• # Tyneside Chemical Co of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• # J.C. Gamble & Sons Ltd of St. Helens Following the merger of the companies, some concerns were raised about the impact on employment. In Robert Sherard'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.
