Lawes works

 

week I wrote about the Wheen Soap works and next comes John Bennet Lawes’ revolutionary manure works. This is also the point at which we reach the Greenwich and Lewisham boundary – and so will be back in Greenwich for the rest of the way north. The Lawes’ site today appears to be known as Thanet Wharf and currently a developer is planning work there, presumably for the blocks of identical small flats

 

Outside of Greenwich and Lewisham this site is actually quite famous. Many historians of technology, and, in particular of the chemical industry, will immediately identify Deptford Creek as the site of the Lawes’ works -  but have no idea at all of any of the other manufacturers and businesses which were nearby. Putting ‘J.B.Lawes Deptford’  into the net will pull up numerous websites which mention it as well and there is also as a huge amount of academic literature.  I am aware of three large archives of material which include material on Lawes’ Deptford and there is also, a large and important research facility which based on Lawes’ works and this includes a small heritage section.

 

It is interesting that my search for local information about the works turned up endless web sites for developers, council planners and local historians and archaeologists - and not a single one has any mention of John Bennett Lawes or the works he founded here and its repercussions. There is clearly a moral here somewhere - if no surprise!  Yes another revolutionary industry in Greenwich/Lewisham which we have chosen to ignore!!  I see that the Royal Mail has brought out stamps with four historical revolutions in the production of electricity – two of them are in Greenwich which totally ignores them.  When they do stamps o changes in ‘scientific agriculture’ they will include Lawes’ Deptford works and we will no doubt still continue to ignore him.

 

 

So – who was John Bennet Lawes and why was his works so important? The story begins at Rothampstead, in Harpenden, where he established an experimental station in 1843.  He set up The Lawes Agricultural Trust there in 1889 and they ran Rothampstead research centre until 1990.   It is now part of the Government’s Agriculture and Food Research Council and claims to be the oldest agricultural research station in the world. They own a large estate, including an experimental farm and a number of other properties including an Experimental site in Suffolk.  I remember visiting Rothampstead many years ago – and found it after a pleasant short walk from Harpenden Station among commons and leafy suburbia in a reassuringly domestic and friendly building.

 

John Bennett Lawes was the owner of Rothampstead Manor and the local squire. His father had died when he was young and left debts – ‘because he was a friend of the Prince Regent’.  John Bennett was educated at Eton and Brazenose College, Oxford and in 1834, at the age of 20, took on the management of the Rothampstead estate. He had a lifelong interest in chemistry which he continued, moving experiments from his bedroom to a barn.  He began to experiment with ground up bones treated with sulphuric acid and found this was an effective manure – particularly good with turnips.  In 1842 he took out a patent for the manufacture of what he called ‘superphosphate’ and then in 1843 set up the factory on Deptford Creek to produce it.  It is said to be the first factory in the world to make superphosphate – the dominant product among manures ever since.

 

In 1857 a larger production unit was opened at Barking Creekmouth although Lawes personal involvement was reduced. He had other interests including the Atlas Chemical Works at Millwall making a range of acids and his continuing work on plant nutrition.

 

At Rothampstead he had a collaborator Joseph Henry Gilbert.   Lawes was a member of the Royal Society and, along with Gilbert, was awarded its royal medal in 1867. In 1878, he became a fellow of the Institute of Chemistry. The Royal Society of Arts awarded him its Albert medal in 1894, and Lawes received honorary degrees from Cambridge, Oxford, and Edinburgh Universities. He was made a baronet in 1882 and, like Gilbert, was knighted.

 

It has not been easy to find much written about Lawes’ Deptford works and perhaps I should confess that I have tried to find things in the past and failed. I am aware though that recently more personal information from Lawes himself has been accessed at Rothampstead and this could well include material on Deptford.  If someone is looking for a big research project there is one here.  It might also cover any links with other works nearby where manure was made and where manufacturers, like for instance Thomas Fogg, were involved with learned institutions and also had papers published in the trade press and journals.

 

The process needed very little equipment: just a tank for the sulphuric acid; a shed in which to store the phosphate, another for the finished superphosphate and an area – ‘a den’ – where it could be all mixed up. In 1860 Frederic Muspratt, the Widnes based chemical manufacturer, described ‘’a circular wall in size about 2 feet’ in which should be put crushed and sieved bones. They should be saturated with water and then sulphuric acid added gradually. It then should be left undisturbed for a week, and then be mixed with ashes and sieved again.  The result was ‘superphosphate’ which came to dominate agricultural production.

 

This process produced terrible fumes and is very polluting for the local atmosphere. From 1881 regulation of such works came under the Alkali Inspectorate - who have left extensive records but unfortunately rather too late for them to say anything much about Deptford.  While the Deptford works was open there were inspections by the local Board of Works and their Medical Officer.

 

In 1853 the Greenwich District Board of Works visited a number of factories on Deptford Creek.  At the Lawes works they saw a quantity of bones in a state of putrefaction – the stench from which was ‘intolerably nauseous arising from the action of the steam on the bones’   The Board of Works began a legal action against them on ‘injury to public health’. The court case attracted a considerable audience of interested parties. Mr. Pink the local Medical Officer of Health for Deptford said that he had ‘experienced offensive smells from the works which he considered prejudicial to the health of inhabitants’.  Visiting the works he had found large quantities of bones in an iron frame. They were to be passed through a cylinder where they were cleaned and dried, and were then crushed and ground to a fine powder. The bones came from South Africa amd included fossilized elephants, rhinoceros and other deposits. There were also coprolites – the dried excreta of animals - which were also ground and dried.  All of this was mixed together. He made a number of detailed suggestions about how much of this work could be done in closed containers

 

One of Mr. Pink’s suggestions had been for a new chimney. This was not to be just for venting smoke from boilers but was to send the foul fumes from the process through a series of purifying measures and then to vent them at a considerable height above the works. The first plan for this was refused permission but in 1856 the new chimney was agreed to at a total height of 64 feet.  By 1857 Mr. Pink could report that he was happy with the attempts made at the works to prevent nuisance and was grateful for their co-operation.  By then he was more concerned with the nuisance caused by Hills’ works a bit south further up the Creek –and Mr. Hills was much less obliging.

 

Some of the complaints on smell related to stored wool waste. This was connected to a small subsidiary company called the Patent Wool Manure Co. It lasted only a few years and closed following accusations of fraud on behalf of some of its agencies.  Sale of manures from Lawes works, like the other manufacturers on the Creek, and no doubt elsewhere, was through a network of agents throughout the country. Clearly some were more honest than others.

 

I’ve only discussed Lawes works on this site and a problem I have is that I have no idea what predecessors works there were on this wharf.  I can make some guesses but they will be just that - guesses.   Later works on the site after Lawes superphosphate works closed included a local authority stone wharf and an asphalt company.

 

 

Locally there is another aspect to this works which will not be obvious to those academics and others who have written about Lawes works but with no knowledge of the local area.  By the 1850s there were numerous sites here on the Creek which were making manures of various sorts and advertising enthusiastically in the local press. We ought to find out how they influenced each other. A good example of how they might make mistakes without this knowledge is in a paper I found about a site in East Anglia supplying raw materials –coprolites - to an F.C.Hills at a Deptford Chemical Works. Knowing nothing about Deptford the writer assumed that the chemical works was that of the famous John Bennett Lawes and that Frank Hills was one of his employees!  But as we known Frank Hills was the independent owner of a rather larger chemical works a few sites up river and no doubt saw Lawes as a commercial rival.    

 

The local historian working on Deptford is going to find several works making manures of various sorts along the Creek.   I’m lucky in that the supervisor of my PhD was associated with someone working on a directory of industrial chemists – so I had access to documents and discussions over a wider spectrum. For most people picking up which is the important one from all the others might not be easy. But at a guess they might realise that the well known one would be an upper-class man with an academic record, connections and wealthy enough to set up his own research institute?

 

I try to end on a cheerful note - so here in 1872 is an account of a day out for the Deptford Creek staff.   They were taken down to the Company sports ground at Barking for an ‘old English game of cricket'. They arrived in Messrs Jacob’s tug, ‘Day Star. They also had a very substantial dinner ‘where ample justice was done to the good things provided.'  As ever with these late 19^th century bun fights most of the evening was taken up by drinking toasts to everyone they could thing of and more!  Mr.Laggan, the Barking works manager, gave the ‘toast of the evening' ..‘Success to Lawes Chemical Manure Company'.  Whisky ‘was received in 'Old English fire’. The health of the managers was drunk with 'musical honours'.. Messrs Jacobs were toasted for the steam tug; the ladies were toasted for the table decorations, the health for the foremen was drunk - Several good songs were sung and they ended with the National Anthem.  I hope Messrs Jacob’s tug men stayed sober enough to get them all home in one piece!