| Industry | Mining, Ironworks, Chemicals |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1863 |
| Defunct | 1960 t/o |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Stewarts & Lloyd's; BSC |
| Headquarters | Staveley, Derbyshire |
Key people | Charles Paxton Markham |
| Products | Pipes, Chemicals |
The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in Staveley, near Chesterfield, north Derbyshire.
The company was registered in 1863, [1] appearing in provincial stock exchange reports from 1864. [2] 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 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.
During the First World War the company began producing sulphuric, nitric and picric acids, TNT and guncotton. After the war the company developed a range of chlorinated organics, purchasing salt-bearing land near Sandbach, Cheshire. The salt was produced by British Soda Company, a new company formed specifically for the purpose. The salt fed 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, 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.[ infringing link? ]
Another salt-related product was sodium chlorate. Staveley Coal and Iron Company were the first company in Britain to manufacture this chemical, [3] with the plant becoming operational in 1938. [4] In 1950, the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company was named by Imperial Chemical Industries as one of their main competitors in caustic soda production. [5]
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, 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 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, a former Chesterfield Labour MP and cabinet minister, was an apprentice with the company after leaving school before becoming a trade union official and, much later, Chairman of another local firm Coalite. [6]
The location of the former works has due to be redeveloped as a infrastructure depot for phase 2B of the planned HS2 high speed railway due to open in 2033 [7]
The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into commodity chemicals for industrial and consumer products. It includes industries for petrochemicals such as polymers for plastics and synthetic fibers; inorganic chemicals such as acids and alkalis; agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and other categories such as industrial gases, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Staveley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. Located along the banks of the River Rother. It is northeast of Chesterfield, west of Clowne, northwest of Bolsover, southwest of Worksop and southeast of Sheffield.
The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 and ran for 46 miles (74 km) from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire, passing through the Norwood Tunnel at Kiveton Park, at the time one of the longest tunnels on the British canal system. The canal was built to export coal, limestone, and lead from Derbyshire, iron from Chesterfield, and corn, deals, timber, groceries and general merchandise into Derbyshire. The stone for the Palace of Westminster was quarried in North Anston, Rotherham, and transported via the canal.
Teesside is a built-up area around the River Tees in North East England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The area contains the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Billingham, Redcar, Thornaby-on-Tees, and Ingleby Barwick. Teesside's economy was once dominated by heavy manufacturing until deindustrialisation in the latter half of the 20th century. Chemical production continues to contribute significantly to Teesside's economy.
The River Rother, a waterway in the northern midlands of England, gives its name to the town of Rotherham and to the Rother Valley parliamentary constituency. It rises in Pilsley in Derbyshire and flows in a generally northwards direction through the centre of Chesterfield, where it feeds the Chesterfield Canal, and on through the Rother Valley Country Park and several districts of Sheffield before joining the River Don at Rotherham in Yorkshire. Historically, it powered mills, mainly corn or flour mills, but most had ceased to operate by the early 20th century, and few of the mill buildings survive.
The Leblanc process was an early industrial process for making soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: making sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reacting the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium carbonate to make sodium carbonate. The process gradually became obsolete after the development of the Solvay process.
Chesterfield railway station serves the market town of Chesterfield in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line. Four tracks pass through the station which has three platforms. It is currently operated by East Midlands Railway.
James Muspratt was a British chemical manufacturer who was the first to make alkali by the Leblanc process on a large scale in the United Kingdom.
Clay Cross railway station was a railway station built by the North Midland Railway in 1840. It served the town of Clay Cross in Derbyshire, England.
Gossage is a family name of soapmakers and alkali manufacturers. Their company eventually became part of the Unilever group. During World War II, all soap brands were abolished by British government decree in 1942, in favour of a generic soap. When conditions returned to normal post war, the Gossage brand was not revived by Unilever though the company name is still registered for legal purposes. The online 'Times Index' shows meetings of the Gossage company board until the early 1960s.
William Gossage was a chemical manufacturer who established a soap making business in Widnes, Lancashire, England.
Searles Valley Minerals Inc. is a raw materials mining and production company with corporate offices in Overland Park, Kansas. It is owned by the Indian company Nirma. It has major operations in the Searles Valley centered in Trona, California where it is the town's largest employer. The company produces borax, boric acid, soda ash, salt cake, and salt. It also owns the Trona Railway.
Aston Colliery was a small coal mine sunk on Aston Common, within Rotherham Rural District but six miles east of Sheffield in the 1840s. In 1864 its workings were taken over and developed by the North Staveley Colliery Company, part of the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, based in North Derbyshire. It was later acquired by the Sheffield Coal Company.
Whittington railway station is a former railway station on the southern edge of New Whittington, Derbyshire, England.
Barrow Hill railway station is a former railway station in the village of Barrow Hill in northern Derbyshire, England.
Markham & Co. was an ironworks and steelworks company near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England.
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid. It is a component of the gastric acid in the digestive systems of most animal species, including humans. Hydrochloric acid is an important laboratory reagent and industrial chemical.
The Clowne Branch is a disused railway line in north eastern Derbyshire, England. Which runs from Creswell to Staveley. Historically it ran to Chesterfield. It is now in use as a greenway.
The Bonnington Chemical Works was a pioneer coal tar processing plant established in Edinburgh. It was probably the first successful independent facility established for the integrated treatment of gasworks waste, and manufactured the residues of the Edinburgh gasworks into useful products for over half a century.
St Rollox Chemical Works was a industrial manufacturer of chemicals located in Glasgow, Scotland, that began in the Georgian era in 1799 and operated continuously until 1964. It was created by Scottish industrialist Charles Tennant and owned and operated by his family and descendents. It was described as the largest plant in Europe, if not the world.
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