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Charles Tennant

Charles Tennant
Charles Tennant.jpg
Born 3 May 1768
Laigh Corton, Alloway, Ayrshire, Scotland
Died 1 October 1838(1838-10-01) (aged 70)
Occupation Businessperson, chemist, industrialist
Parent(s) John Tennant, Margaret McClure

Charles Tennant (3 May 1768 – 1 October 1838) was a Scottish chemist and industrialist. He discovered bleaching powder and founded an industrial dynasty.

Born at Laigh Corton, Alloway, Ayrshire to John Tennant (1725–1810) and his second wife Margaret McClure (1738–1784). The family had worked the land for generations and were friends with local poet Robert Burns (1759–1796). In Burns' epistle to "James Tennant of Glenconner" Tennant is mentioned as "wabster Charlie" (Scots language: weaver). This referring to the occupation on which Tennant had embarked, namely silk weaving, being apprenticed at the village of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire.

Charles was the ninth of John Tennant's sixteen children. As a baby, he moved from Laigh corton farm to Glenconner, Ochiltree, Ayrshire

He was fortunate to receive schooling both at home and at the Ochiltree parish school. He was apprenticed by his father to a master handloom weaver. This was a highly paid occupation, requiring great skill and considerable intelligence. Weavers were to be envied at the end of the eighteenth century for weaving had developed into Scotland's first industry, the counterpart of the woolen industry in England. Most farmers grew flax for their wives to spin and this, along with imported cotton, provided the material for many newly established cotton mills.

Charles was quick to learn his trade (weaving) but also to see that the growth of the industry far surpassed the development of bleaching methods, which were very primitive. An important aspect of the weaving industry was bleaching cloth. At that time this involved treatment with stale urine and leaving the cloth exposed to sunlight for many months in so called bleaching fields. Huge quantities of unbleached cotton piled up in the warehouses. Charles left his well paid weaving position to try to develop improved bleaching methods. This led him to start his own bleaching fields in 1788, at Darnley, near Barrhead, Renfrewshire.


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