Chemical MANUFACTURE IN RUNCORN AND WESTON 1800 - 1930

Gordon Rintoul January 1984 
 
 
 

By 1800 the industrial transformation of Britain was well underway. The industrialization and urbanization of British society did not, however, occur overnight. Industrial development took place gradually rather than in a cataclysmic instant. In the early nineteenth century many areas of the country, although undergoing great changes, retained a measure of pre-industrial peace. The small town of Runcorn (pop. 1470 in 1800) was one such spot. Even inn the 1830's it was described as a healthy spa possessing large areas of parkland and clean air. Gradually, however, this situation began to change largely under the impetus of competition between the Duke of Bridgewater' Canal and the Mersey and Irwell Company and also a demand for stone from local quarries. In a few decades Runcorn had grown to become a bustling industrial town, possessing a population of 3000 in 1841 (1). In addition to its growth as a port and a centre for the transhipment of goods, the town gained several manufacturing industries: shipbuilding, tanning and Chemicals. It is the story of the development of the most important of the latter type of works that this paper is concerned. While the importance of the Widnes area just across the Mersey as a centre of the alkali industry is well known, the development of the industry on the Runcorn side of the river remains obscure. 
 
 

Origins and Early Growth 
 

In 1798 the Rev Thomas Alcock, Vicar of Runcorn, bequeathed several parcels of land in the township of Runcorn, adjoining the Bridgewater Canal, to his niece Elizabeth Burton. Three years later she married John Johnson, a farmer residing in the Runcorn area (2). Johnson lost no time in increasing the value of his wife's inheritance. In 1803 he raised money by mortgaging the property, obtaining a loan of £800 from Thomas Pickering of Halton. This money was to be used for the erection of dwelling houses and for other improvements of the land. Four years later Johnson obtained two further mortgages of £500 each. By the time of Johnson's death at the early age of 37 in August 1816 the borrowed money had been invested in industrial development on the site, in addition to housing, As a consequence, the value of the land had grown considerably Five years after Johnson's death his wife was able to mortgage the property for £3,400,

using part of this sum to pay off the original £1500 in loans (3). At this time the property is described in the Title Deeds as including a soap factory, ropeworks and a slate shop. The soapworks had been established by Johnson in the 1800s using the money raised in loans; in his will he described himself as being a soapboiler (4). By 1822, however, Messrs Hayes, Ollier and Company are described in the deeds as tenants of Johnson's wife and operating a soap, rosin and turpentine works. This firm had been in operation since at least 1821 (5). In 1823 the property was again re-mortgaged, this time for Z5000, out of which the £3,400 existing, mortgage was paid off. At this time the greater part of -the land was in the tenancy of Hayes, Ollier and Company (6) By 1828, however, a local directory was listing the firm of Johnson and Briddons as soapboilers and ropemakers and Thomas Johnson as a turpentine distiller (7). Thomas Johnson's sons, John and Thomas, were the owners of these works. Presumably what happened was that after Thomas Johnson's (the elder) death his factory was taken over by Hayes and Oilier before subsequently reverting to Johnson's sons soon after they came of age (8). The fact that Ralph Assager Hayes was one of the executors of Johnson's will may lend some support to this view (9). 
 

The Johnson's family business prospered and expanded during the 1830s. By 1832 enough had been earned to enable Elizabeth Johnson to repay some of the mortgage (10). This was a decade of expansion for the Merseyside soap industry. Before 1800 London was the main centre for soap manufacture. This pre-eminence was however, soon challenged by the growth of the industry in the Liverpool region. The latter area benefited from easy access to supplies of coal and a favourable location for the import and export of goods (12.). By 1834 Liverpool had overtaken London as the centre of the British soap trade and Runcorn had become  the fifth largest soap manufacturing town in the country:   
 

Soap production in Britain 1834

Liverpool 52 million pounds   

London 34 " "   

Glasgow 8.6 “ “  

Bristol  8.5 " "   

Runcorn 7.5 " "   
 

The extent of J and T Johnson's business can be judged by the amount of excise duty paid on soap produced. In 1832 they paid £38,681, making them the second largest soapmakers on Merseyside. Given the level at which soap was taxed one can infer that they produced about 1500 tons in 1832 rising to 2000 tons two years later (12). This expansion in output was a direct result of a repeal in 1833 of almost half the soap duty. This cut in tax was in part the result of extensive lobbying by the Association of Soap Manufacturers, of whom the Johnsons were members (13). By 1841 the Johnsons works had grown to such an extent that in the space of a decade their rateable value had tripled (14). 
 

In the 1830's the Johnsons expanded their business by taking over a soapworks at Weston. In 1833 Dennis Kennedy and Thomas Maguire, partners in a Liverpool soap manufacturers, purchased some land on the banks of the River Weaver at Weston, The following year, after taking out a mortgage of £1.000 from the Bankes family (who held extensive land in the area), they erected buildings, boilers, vats, etc (15). In the same year they are listed in Pigot's Cheshire Directory as Chemical Manufacturers (16). This signalled the beginning of the transformation of the Weston area. In 1840 it was recorded that the area "attracts a vast number of visitors in the summer season, from its being pleasantly situated near the rivers Weaver and Mersey" (17). Kennedy and Maguire's business did not, however, last long and in 1836 they defaulted on their mortgage.

For the sum of £1,084 17s 6d, J and T Johnson purchased the land and plant and an additional piece of land alongside (18). In the same year the Works was described in a survey of the Merseyside area as being a Vitriol Works (19). This expansion onto an additional site laid the basis for a prosperous future for the Company. 
 

The Johnson's had not, however, been inactive at their original Runcorn site. By 1841 they were described as soap, turpentine, rope and alkali manufacturers (20). Three years previously they had erected a chimney over 200 feet high at their works (21). The presence of this high chimney coupled with their trade directory listing as alkali manufacturers strongly suggests that the Johnsons had begun to manufacture soda by the Leblanc process, the chimney being necessary to carry off the hydrochloric acid produced in the first stage of the process. At this time the Leblanc alkali industry was expanding in the region, particularly in nearby St Helens (22). Further, it is known that by the mid-1830's Leblanc alkali had to a significant extent replaced natural sources of alkali, such as help, in the Merseyside soap industry as a whole. (23) The Johnsons would certainly have been aware of the value of the process for their soap manufacture since they were present in 1838 when the Association of Soap Manufacturers raised the possibility, at their annual meeting, that "an improvement in the manufacture of soda, consequent upon the repeal of the salt duty" had made it easier for unscrupulous manufacturers to evade the soap tax. (24) If this supposition is correct then the Johnsons and not John Hutchinson were the first alkali manufacturers in the Runcorn and Widnes area. 
 
 

The Years of Enterprise 
 

In the 1840's John and Thomas Johnson built upon the foundations laid in the previous decade to establish a sizeable industrial and commercial empire. This not only involved increasing production at their Runcorn any Weston sites but also the following of a strategy of 'vertical integration'. From manufacturing soap they expanded backwards into the manufacture of alkali and sulphuric acid and to secure supplies of the raw materials which they required: coal, salt, pyrites, and limestone. 
 

The Johnsons branched into the St Helens coal trade in the early 1840’s. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century the collieries around St Helens had been supplying coal in increasing quantities to the Cheshire saltmakers and by 1830 almost all the coal leaving the area was destined for that market (25). The following decade, however, saw a fundamental change in the market for St Helens coal. This was a result of the opening up of an entirely new market in the form of coal for steam powered ships. By 1846 the Secretary of the St Helens Canal and Railway Company estimated that of the 633,000 tons of coal extracted from the area, 183,000 tons were shipped to Cheshire Saltworks and 440,000 tons taken down the Mersey to Liverpool primarily for the use of steam boats (26). In order to meet these new demands a large increase in capacity of the coalfield was necessary. Over the period 1830-45 output was doubled with entirely new 

pits being sunk and old mines being extended (27).  
 

One part of the coalfield was particularly suitable to supply the steamboat market because its coal was of a high calorific value, this was the Rusty Park seam (28). John and Thomas Johnson began operating a coal mine on this seam at Laffack, to the north east of St Helens. Their business appears to have grown very rapidly since by 1843-44 they had succeeded in securing the coal contract for the navy at Liverpool (29). At this time this contract represented the largest single consignment of coal to naval establishments at home or abroad (30). By 1856 the Johnsons could claim to be producing over 150,000 tons of coal annually (31). Thus in a very short period of time the Johnsons had succeeded in moving into an entirely new line of business with very profitable results. This is only one example of the keen eye which the Johnson's possessed with regard to opportunities to make financial gains. 
 

in the 1840's J and T Johnson also expanded into the salt industry. With the process of industrialization and the expansion of population the Cheshire salt industry grew to attain enormous dimensions. In addition to the expansion of traditional markets the mid nineteenth century also saw the growth of a new large market for salt - the Leblanc alkali

industry. It was perhaps in part to secure their own source of salt that the Johnson, branched out into the Cheshire saltfields. Although they are listed as having shipped salt down the River Weaver from Northwich in 1843, it appears to have been in 1845 that their main salt business began (32). On land leased from Lord Delamere at Over in the Winsford area, they erected warehouses, quays, steam engines, salt pans and bored a brine shaft (33). By 1856 the works was producing 20,000 tons of salt per annum (34). Obviously the Johnsons were not only producing salt for their own use but also for sale. 
 

Coal and salt were by no means the only areas into which J and T Johnson expanded. At some time before 1857 they secured sources of other raw materials for their Chemical works by purchasing limestone quarries in Wales and pyrites mines in Ireland (35). By 1850 they had opened a shipyard near the old steam mills in Mill Street in Runcorn (36). They also began acquiring a large fleet of ships to transport their raw materials and finished products; in 1865 they possessed four schooners, one coasting flat, nine river flats, and four other boats (37). In addition to their industrial interests the Johnsons were also engaged in farming in the Runcorn -area in a substantial way (38). 
 

The creation of this commercial and industrial empire made the Johnson's extremely wealthy. In 1846 Elizabeth Johnson was able to repay in full the £4,500 owed on the mortgage on the Runcorn land (39). On his marriage in 1857 Thomas Johnson was living at Halton Grange, described in a local newspaper report as a "mansion". The same report recorded that the "firm of Thomas and Johnson (are) not merely of local standing they possess almost a world wide .reputation" (40).

5

As the Johnson expanded the breadth of their industrial and commercial activities they also invested heavily in increasing the capacity of their Runcorn and Weston Chemical works. In 1846 and again in 1858 they secured additional leases for land adjoining their Weston factory (41). Indeed, by 1850 one local directory was able to record that the Johnson's works "were extensive" (42). In the same year a very tall chimney reaching 360 feet was built at the Weston site (43). The aim of this chimney was to disperse the hydrochloric acid gas produced in the first stage of the Leblanc process. At this time the Johnsons passed the gas directly into the air without using condensing towers (44). The Weston site was an ideal situation for a Chemical works. In 1860 an advertisement appeared in the Warrington Guardian for a large piece of land to be let on a long term lease:

'To Manufacturing Chemists and others. To be let on the bank of the Weaver.... Land is admirably adapted for manufacturing purposes.... Lying on the banks of the Weaver Canal; it communicates with the salt districts of Cheshire; being within a short distance of the St Helens Canal and Railway, it communicates with the coal districts of Lancashire The Weaver Canal, opening into the Mersey affords communications to Liverpool. The local rates are very low. Articles conveyed to and from the land along the canal are free from tolls.' (45) 
 

This illustrates just how important geographical position with respect to raw materials and the existence of a good transport system were to the siting of Chemical works. Given this situation the Johnsons' decision to expand their Weston factory was thus a sound one. 
 

In 1859 a new works underwent construction at Weston alongside the Johnson's factory. These were established by William Collier who for 22 years had been the Johnson's Manager (46). Collier leased a parcel of land from the estate of the Bankes family for a period of sixty years at a rent of £160 per annum. In addition he agreed to erect buildings for the trade of manufacturing chemist and dwelling houses to the value of £80. These works were, however, only to be in Collier's hands for two and a half years. In April 1862 he sold up to the Johnsons for the sum of £3,500. In the intervening period he had erected buildings, chambers, vats, furnaces and steam engines (47). Collier, now a farmer, claimed before a Government Commission a few months later that he had been forced to give up his business because of a relentless campaign by the Johnsons. Collier had a lower chimney than the adjoining factory but condensed his hydrochloric acid efficiently. The Johnsons, however, refused to pay for damage caused by their fumes and were consequently taken before the County Court. Collier claimed that this incident led the Johnsons to persecute him, finally forcing him to sell up (48). 
 

Eventually Collier's works became known as the Weston No 2 Works. William Collier’s account of the unscrupulous nature of the Johnsons in relation to their business interests is borne out by their attitude to complaints about pollution from their Runcorn works. Until the 1863 Alkali Act the hydrochloric acid from the saltcake furnaces at these works was passed directly into the air (49). Even in the years following the Act the Johnsons continued to be frequent offenders. In mid 1866 the pollution from the works was very bad. Mr Blake, the Inspector of Nuisances for the Runcorn Highway and Sanitary Committee, reported that he had witnessed a dense cloud of vapour arise and descend from the works one evening. The following day he visited the scene to find vegetation damaged (50). Consequently Blake tried to get the Johnsons to take action. Two months later he addressed a letter to the Sanitary Committee stating that:- 
 

'I lay before you a statement made to me by E Clarke Esq on the 9th inst. when in his office he said, "Blake, I would have you be very cautious, for if you would hear what Mr T Johnson has to say about you for sending these reports (I said what did he say), he said that Mr T Johnson made use of a great deal of harsh language. One expression made use of by Mr Johnson was that he would leave no means unturned to upset Blake from his position." ' (51) 
 

Evidently the Johnson's were not to be tangled with! 
 

As I outlined earlier' the Johnsons had continually expanded their activities and scale of operation during the 1840's and 1850's. At the end of the latter decade they secured the final link in the chain of their strategy of 'vertical integration'. In 1859 they purchased the Ironbridge oil works in Widnes for use as a factory refining rosin, an essential ingredient for soapmaking. These works, situated on the banks of the Sankey Canal at the north west corner of the ironbridge carrying the railway line onto 'Spike Island’, had been in operation since at least 1845 as an oilworks (52). The owner was, however, declared bankrupt in 1852 and after passing through the hands of several parties, the Johnsons purchased the land for £2,500 (53). At about the same time they also purchased patents enabling rosin to be distilled without decomposition. These were put into use at the Iron Bridge works to produce refined rosin for incorporation in the Johnson's pale yellow soaps (54). 
 

By the 1860s the Johnson's business empire was at, its height.  They owned extensive Chemical works in Runcorn and Weston for the manufacture of soap, soda, sulphuric acid. They could supply their own raw materials from a saltworks at Winsford, a coal mine at St Helens, limestone quarries in Wales, pyrites mines in Ireland and rosin from their works in Widnes. The Johnsons were not, however, simply the largest manufacturers in the Runcorn area, they were also heavily involved in the affairs of the local community. 
 
 

The Manufacturer as Public Figure 
 

With the Johnson's commercial prosperity came social standing and political power in the local area. Like many entrepreneurs elsewhere in the country, John and Thomas Johnson became deeply involved in the affairs of the local community. In the early nineteenth century local Government in Runcorn was in the hands a local Vestry. In 1832, however, following an outbreak of cholera in which sixteen people died, a Board of Health was formed (55). John Johnson, at this time already the joint owner of the largest Chemical works in the area, was nominated as a member of the Board (56). In 1851 a committee representing prominent interests in the town began meeting to consider whether to press for the passing of an act of Parliament for the improvement of the town. In June the following year the Runcorn Improvement Act received Royal Assent. The Act empowered a Board of Commissioners to pave, light, watch, drain, cleanse and otherwise improve the town of Runcorn and also to provide it with sewers and a market (57). Most of the members of the local business community were involved in the Improvement Commissioners, including Thomas and John Johnson. The Johnsons were already active in providing a gas supply for the town. In 1837 an act of Parliament was passed which enabled a supply of gas to be provided for the town. The promoter of the act was the Runcorn Gas and Light Company. The act was repealed in 1847 and replaced by the Gas Works Clauses Act which consolidated legislation, constrained profits and so on (58). A new company, the Runcorn Gas Company, was formed to put the relief Act into action. John and Thomas Johnson were involved in both of these gas companies (59). 
 

The first meeting of the Runcorn Improvement Commissioners (RIC) took place on 1st November 1852 (60). One of the first actions taken by them was to consider proposals to establish a market. The events leading up to the opening of this market in an 'Italian Style' building in 1856 are illustrative of the position of the Johnsons in the local community. In February 1853 a market sub-committee of the RIC was formed, consisting of John and Thomas Johnson, John Linaker Wright (owner of a tannery), James Cowley and Philip White. The committee duly, shortlisted four possible sites for the market: Walkers Croft (Church Street), a garden in Church Street, The Sprinch and finally a house in Bridge Street owned by the Johnsons (61). The site chosen was the one belonging to the Johnsons, for which the RIC agreed to pay £1,800 (62). The choice of the Johnsons property had unintended consequences. Under the Improvement Act it was found that the Johnsons had disqualified themselves from acting as Commissioners (at least for that year) by selling property to the RIC. In February 1854 a special meeting had to be held to elect two Commissioners in their place (63). Plans for the market did not, however, go ahead smoothly. Although the RIC had agreed upon a site and the price to be paid for it, they still faced the problem of how they were going to pay the Johnsons for their land. In November 1854 a special meeting of the RIC was called "To consider the best means of raising the money to pay Messrs Johnson for the market land"; a sub-committee was then formed to consider the matter.  The Johnsons, however, would have none of this delay and instructed their solicitor to write to the RIC threatening to file a Bill to compel the, Commissioners to act upon the contract. The following week a special meeting of the RIC was called at which it was decided that the purchase would be completed on the condition that the Johnsons fulfilled a promise already given to allow the Commissioners to pay £800 of the purchase price in the form of a mortgage (64). This decision was finally ratified in June 1855 and it was agreed that the loan would be at 5% interest (65). 
 

This episode illustrates the strong position the Johnsons held in the town: they were on the market sub-committee which opted for their site and even loaned the RIC some of the money with which to buy it. Their threat to take court action is a further indication of their abrasive approach to business matters. After being disqualified from serving as Commissioners in 1854 the Johnsons took no further extensive part in the RIC's work, although Thomas Johnson served again from late 1855 to early 1856 (66). 
 

In addition to their involvement with the local gas company and local Government, the Johnsons were also religious and educational patrons. They were largely responsible for the foundation of Holy Trinity Church in Runcorn in 1838 and contributed to the expenses of the curate. In conjunction with the Earl of, Ellesmere they were promoters of daily infant and Sunday schools in connection with the Church. They also supported Sunday schools at their works in Runcorn. Finally, they built and maintained Trinity Ragged Schools (67). 
 

Overall the impression one gains is that the Johnsons were ambitious hard-headed businessmen who were always looking for new ways to expand their business. They could also be ruthless, as their attitude to William Collier, the Inspector of nuisances and the RIC (when they failed to pay for the market land) shows. At the same time they possessed the philanthropic attitude common to many of their social position at this time. 
 
 

Crash and Boom 
 

In the early 1860’s it is clear that the Johnsons commanded a large, thriving and expanding business empire. In about 1860 they had opened an office in Liverpool, with Charles Wigg as their agent (68). This was an obvious move because of the American trade in alkali and salt and the Johnson's large business in steam coal (69). Within a few years, however, their commercial edifice was to begin crashing down around them. 
 

During the American Civil War the Johnson's saw an opportunity to realize a speedy and substantial profit by running the blockade then being mounted against the ports of the South 
 

They purchased a number of steamships for this purpose and one vessel succeeded in its journey, realizing over £170,000. Subsequently, however, disaster struck when all their vessels were lost in the naval battle at Charleston (70). This proved to be a heavy financial blow to the Johnsons since they had evidently sunk a great deal of capital into the venture. This affair led first to the flotation of the Johnson's company as a public concern and eventually to their bankruptcy. 
 

On 13 November 1865 a new company registered under the recently passed Companies Act came into being. This was the Runcorn Soap and Alkali Company and its stated aim was to purchase the land, buildings, plant, patents, etc belonging to T and J Johnson at Runcorn, Weston, Widnes and Winsford. The promoters of the company were Thomas Campbell (a Liverpool merchant), Francis Shand (also a Liverpool merchant) William, Keats (a Liverpool merchant and copper smelter), Peter Boult and John Higson (both Brokers in Liverpool), Neil Mathieson (Described as a Runcorn soap manufacturer), Charles Wigg, a Liverpool merchant who was the Johnson's agent. Wigg was appointed as Secretary to the company and the Johnsons allocated places on the Board of Directors. The price to be paid to the Johnsons for the transfer was £183,724, £80,000 of which was to be taken in shares in the new company. The first list of shareholders provides an insight into the financing of the enterprise. Interestingly, local alkali and soap manufacturers like Gossage, Hazlehurst, Neil Mathieson and Duncan McKechnie (described as foreman of Johnson's works) invested in the company (71): 
 
 
 

                  Number of Shares   Occupation 
 
 

John Johnson   1900    Merchant   

Thomas Johnson 1650              “

Neil Mathieson    175    Manufacturer   

Charles Wigg    250    Merchant   

P S Boult    500    Broker   

J F Campbell    270    Merchant   

Robert Daglish      150    Ironfounder   

William Gossage     30    Manufacturer   

John Higson    500    Broker   

William Hayes    250    Merchant   

Charles Hazlehurst   100              “

Thomas Hazlehurst   100              “

William Keates          50              “

Duncan McKechnie     25    Foreman of works   

Roderick Rayner     50    Broker   

Lloyd Rayner      72           “   

Francis Shand    600    Merchant   

W W Shand    500    Broker   

Samuel Withers      500              “

Rudolf Zwilcherbart   500    Merchant 
 

The Johnsons appear to have been in financial trouble since at least 1865, at which time the deeds of the property owned by them were deposited with the Royal Bank of Liverpool as security for a loan. On 26 February 1.869 their land adjoining the Bridgewater Canal (the original family inheritance totalling 27,283 sq yd) was finally transferred to the RSA Co under the terms of the agreement reached when the later company was formed. The price paid, £29,250, was not, however, transferred to the Johnsons but retained by the bank in part satisfaction of money owed to them. In May the same year the Johnson's remaining land was conveyed to the bank because of the "large sum of money" still owing to it. In December 1869 the Johnsons still owed the bank over £5000 (72). Presumably what had happened was that the Johnsons had borrowed large sums of money to finance their plan to run the American blockade. When this speculative venture failed they were forced to mortgage the land which they held freehold in order to pay their debts (73). 
 

The only parts of their business which the Johnsons kept were their coal mines at St Helens. On 31 December 1869 the Johnsons surrendered their coal leases to the Laffack and Garswood Collieries Co Ltd. The following May the Gerrard family of St Helens reserved the leases, thus giving the Johnsons the opportunity to make good their losses (74) The Secretary and Agent of the new colliery company was Charles Wigg, now operating from the Runcorn Soap and Alkali Company's offices in Water Street, Liverpool (75). The declining state of the Johnsons' finances is exhibited in the number of shares in the RSA Company which they held (76):

      Year           John Johnson         Thomas Johnson

      1865  2000 shares  2000 shares   

      1866  1900   1650   

      1867  1900   1650   

      1868      25   1025   

      1869      25   1025   

      1870    nil       25   

      1871    nil      nil 

The Johnson's financial position is also indicated by the attempt made by John Johnson to sell his house (Bank House) to the Runcorn Improvement Commissioners in 1869. A sub-committee of the Commissioners was formed to consider Johnson's offer to sell but it decided that the asking price was too high and the building would require a considerable outlay before it could be used for public purposes. Accordingly a General Meeting of the RIC formally declined the offer (77). 
 

In November 1871 the Johnsons were finally declared bankrupt under the terms of the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 (78). The following year the Johnson's last company, the Laffack and Garswood Collieries Co Ltd, went into liquidation (79). The brothers lived on, John dying in 1883, Thomas in 1884, but their commercial activities were at an end (80). 
 

The 1860's were a fortuitous time for the Runcorn Soap and Alkali Company to come into existence. The decade after 1865 saw a boom in the Leblanc industry which was to a large degree due to the ending of the American Civil War. The lifting of the blockade enabled exports to be resumed and also caused a rise in demand from the Lancashire textile industry. In Widnes this period witnessed the most intense burst of activity in the town's existence, with the tonnage of salt decomposed and coal consumed quadrupling (81). The Companies Act of 1862 (which consolidated a series of Acts from 1844) also played a role in this since it enabled limited liability companies like the Runcorn Soap and Alkali Company to come into being (82). 
 

During this period the Runcorn Soap and Alkali Company was one of the largest in the Widnes and Runcorn area. A comparison of their raw material usage, production and numbers of employees with that of the largest Widnes Works is instructive (c. 1869) (84):