Jarrow Chemical Co
From Graces Guide
Jarrow Chemical Company, chemical manufacturers of Jarrow-on-Tyne
- 1843 James Stevenson senior moved from Glasgow to South Shields as senior partner of the Jarrow Chemical Company, alkali manufacturers. Stevenson may have had connections with the Tennant family, alkali manufacturers, who put up one sixth of the original £36,000 capital for the Jarrow Chemical Company and were involved in other combined ventures. The Tennants set up their own alkali works at Hebburn-on-Tyne in 1863.
- 1854 His son, James Cochran Stevenson, took his father's place in the management of the company.
- 1855 Stevenson's partner Williamson and he patented a revolving kiln to improve the efficiency of the production process.
- Within a few years it was the second largest chemical company in Britain (after Tennant 's St Rollox works). With Tennants, the Jarrow Chemical Company developed brine deposits on Teesside for salt and were also involved with the Tharsis Sulphur and Copper Co, set up to mine pyrites in Spain to supply sulphur.
- By the 1870s the Jarrow Chemical Company employed 1400 men.
- 1890 The Leblanc process operators merged their interests into the United Alkali Co to rationalize production. Stevenson, who had been very active in the merger negotiations, became a vice-chairman; almost all of the Leblanc plants were closed over the next few years., including Jarrow Chemical Company.
See Also
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Sources of Information
- Biography of James Cochran Stevenson, ODNB [1]