Gossage

Gossage is a family name of soapmakers and alkali manufacturers. Their company eventually became part of the Unilever group. During World War II, all soap brands were abolished by British government decree in 1942, in favour of a generic soap. When conditions returned to normal post war, the Gossage brand was not revived by Unilever though the company name is still registered for legal purposes. The online 'Times Index' shows meetings of the Gossage company board until the early 1960s.

William Gossage (1799-1877) was the founder of the dynasty and the youngest of 13 children. He was born in Burgh in the Marsh, near Skegness, Lincolnshire. He had his chemical training from his uncle, a druggist in Chesterfield to whom he was apprenticed at the age of 12, in 1823. He set up in business at Leamington, where he made Leamington Salts. There he met a girl and was married in 1830. Their first son was Alfred Howard Gossage, born 1830. The following year he fathered another son, Frederick Herbert Gossage (1831-1907).

Around the same year of 1830, he set up partnership with Mr Farndon to form the British Alkali Works at Stoke Prior, Worcestershire. British alkali meant sodium carbonate made by the Leblanc Process. The process involved the use of coal, limestone, salt and sulphuric acid, which produced copious quantities of hydrogen chloride. The noxious gas destroyed the crops of nearby farmers. By 1836 Gossage had solved the problem with his Gossage Tower.

Gossage left Stoke Prior for Birmingham in 1841, where he entered the white lead trade. In 1844 he switched locations and businesses again, becoming a copper smelter in South Wales. However, he would return to Stoke Prior in 1848.

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