Charles Price and Co
Charles Price and Co of Millwall, Poplar and Castle Baynard, Upper Thames Street.
Works: Erith, Kent.
1700 Established
1805 Sir Charles Price (d.1818), established an oil works south of the Canal Iron Works. He erected a complex of buildings for crushing rapeseed and linseed, and for production and storage of tar, oils, turpentine and varnish. An old windmill on the site, long used for seed-crushing, was converted to an oil-refining house.
Later the works were expanded to cover the riverside portion of Joad and Curling's rope-ground
The principal refinery for Rangoon petroleum into mineral oil, until the introduction of petroleum from American sources
c.1872 the works closed; the site was acquired by J. T. Morton. Prices retained some premises for storage at Regent Wharf.
Their main manufacturing and refining operations were moved to Erith.
1870s Rangoon Engine Oil
1878 Major fire. 'The outbreak of an extensive fire in Upper Thames street on Tuesday afternoon produced great excitement. A few minutes before four o'clock flames were seen issuing from Castle Wharf, Upper Thames street, occupied by a firm trading under the name of Sir Charles Price and Co., oil refiners. The fire was sudden, and almost immediately the premises were one burning mass. The firm of Sir Charles Price Co. have large oil works at Belvedere, Erith, Kent, and at the Castle Baynard Wharf is used as a depot in which refined oil is stored for delivery to customers. The wharf fronts on the river, and on the Upper Thames street side is entered by a gateway which leads into courtyard, the warehouse being between this yard and the river. In the warehouse was large store of oil in cans, and from some cause present unknown oil took fire. The conflagration spread with astonishing rapidity, soon enveloping the warehouse with flames and smoke. A dense cloud arose and drifted to the north, while the flames roared, and raged, and leaped upwards until they reached many feet above the tops of the surrounding buildings, so as to be seen from long distance.'[1]
1904 Mention of the Charles Price and Co Brass Band at Belvedere Park.[2]
1907 Mention of the company at the Erith Town Regatta.[3]
1907 Acquired Langford and Bicknell
1912 Prices Patent Candle Co took over Charles Price and Co.
Price's Patent Candle Factory.[4]
Price's Patent Candle Company began manufacturing candles in 1830 as Edward Price and Co. William Wilson and his partner saw a gap between the expensive beeswax candles and cheap but poor quality tallow candles, and built a factory at Vauxhall intending to create that niche product. Instead of using those traditional candle-making materials, Edward Price and Co. created candles made out of Coconut Oil from Ceylon. They then made advancements to produce stearine from tallow and vegetable oils, and the process was also applied to other animal waste materials. Stearine made a candle that burned brightly without smoke or smell, and the new stearine composite candles were very popular. By 1847, when Edward Price and Co. became Price's Patent Candle Company, they were using Palm Oil harvested in West Africa to make candles. The increase in use of palm oil was significant because it provided an economic alternative to the thriving slave trade in Africa. Price's Patent Candle Company still produced their popular stearine candles, but the waste materials from the process of creating stearine became an issue. George Wilson, son of William Wilson, took some of these by-products, like glycerine and oleine, and began promoting them with various uses. In 1854, after oil was discovered in Burma, Price’s Patent Candle Company began distilling crude oil into benzene (advertised as a cleaning product), kerosene, and Paraffin Wax. By the turn of the century, 90% of candles were made from Paraffin Wax. A large amount of kerosene was exported to the United States of America before oil was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859. Price’s Patent Candle Company lost their American market for kerosene, but continued to import crude oil from both the United States of America and Russia after discovering that kerosene and the waste oil leftover from the distillation process could be used as lubricating oils. As production increased, Price's Patent Candle Company built more factories. By 1855, they had two factories in London and a factory in Liverpool that was closer to their West African imported Palm Oil. Price's Patent Candle Company then became even more popular due to their religious and education programs set up for the child workers at their factories, which were unheard of at the time. In the early 20th century the company began building factories worldwide to be even closer to the raw materials.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Kentish Mercury - Saturday 07 September 1878
- ↑ Kentish Independent - Friday 26 August 1904
- ↑ Kentish Independent - Friday 24 May 1907
- ↑ [http://www.prices-candles.co.uk/history/historydetail.asp Prices-candles.co.uk