Staveley Coal and Iron Company
| Industry | Mining, Ironworks, Chemicals |
|---|---|
| Fate | Taken over |
| Successor | Stewarts & Lloyd's; BSC |
| Founded | ? |
| Defunct | 1960 t/o |
| Headquarters | Staveley, Derbyshire |
|
Key people
|
Charles Paxton Markham |
| Products | Pipes, Chemicals |
The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in Staveley, near Chesterfield, North Derbyshire. The company was registered in 1863, appearing in provincial stock exchange reports from 1864. It exploited local ironstone quarried from land owned by the Duke of Devonshire on the outskirts of the village. It developed into coal mining, owning several collieries and also into chemical production, first from those available from coal tar distillation, later to cover a wide and diverse range. Part of the plant at Staveley was a sulphuric acid manufacturing unit making use of the Contact Process.
It was during the years of World War 1 that the company developed its chemical operations beyond coal-tar chemicals and began production of sulphuric and nitric acids. During the war they also made picric acid, TNT and guncotton. Following the end of hostilities the company laid plans to develop a range of chlorinated organics and to this end purchased salt-bearing land near Sandbach, Cheshire. The salt was produced by a new company formed specifically for the purpose and named the British Soda Company. The salt being needed to feed a new installation of mercury cells at the Staveley works. The first cells at Staveley came into operation in 1922 and in 1926 they went into partnership with the Krebs Company of Paris and Berlin to develop a new cell, which was based on lessons learned. This was marketed worldwide as the Krebs-Staveley cell. This installation lasted into the late 1950s when the cellroom at Staveley was replaced with German-made mercury cells.
Another salt-related product was sodium chlorate. Staveley Coal and Iron Company were the first company in Britain to manufacture this chemical, with the plant becoming operational in 1938. In 1950, the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company was named by Imperial Chemical Industries as one of their main competitors in caustic soda production.
...
Wikipedia