Clayton Aniline Co
of Chatham Street, Clayton, Manchester (1914)
1876 Founded by Dr Charles Dreyfus[1], an Alsatian chemist.
1894-1901 Arthur George Green (1864-1941) was manager of the colour department.
1897 The company was registered on 31 March, to take over and extend the business of a company of the same name. [2]
1911 Acquired by the Society of Chemical Industry in Basel (a company later known as Ciba).[3]
1913 Dreyfus resigned.
1916 Recognised by the British Cotton and Wool Dyers Association for their contribution to maintaining supplies of dyes in the face of the German embargo. [4]
1918 Sandoz and Geigy were given shares in Clayton Aniline.
From 1920 to 1960 the company operated under the handicap of the Dyestuffs Import Regulations Act, which prevented it from importing various dyes and intermediates from Switzerland.
1954 The sales organisation was hived off to form the Clayton Dyestuffs Co. Ltd, which became CIBA Clayton Ltd in 1958.
The Ciba Speciality Chemicals' Clayton plant closed in 2009 with the loss of 300 jobs. The 44-acre site was to be cleared for housing.
- See here for an excellent archaeological investigation report, which examines the development of the business in the broader context of the Clayton area.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Archives of the British chemical industry, 1750-1914: a handlist. By Peter J. T. Morris and Colin A. Russell. Edited by John Graham Smith. 1988.