Still at Morden Wharf – we have looked at the input here into early underwater cable and later into the cement industry. There were so many different firms here that it is getting difficult to pick out the most interesting. By the 20th century there were many short term uses of many parts of Morden Wharf. There were, however, two big firms on a central site – this site, which many will remember, was that used by Amylum until around 2005-6 and would include the riverside silos. Previously t was a large soap works.
The Willkie and Soames soap works was in Spitalfields in 1808, presumably under Mr Willkie but by 1846 the Soames family held a lease on the Wheeler Street soap works. In 1853 they moved the works to Greenwich, probably for more space. A lease was then signed.
This was probably due to the fact that the Somas family had lived in the Greenwich and Blackheath area for many years. Morden College Trustees had already had numerous dealings with the Soames on issues which included the provision of Christ Church in East Greenwich. The Soames lived in Greenwich and put some of their considerable profit back into the area. In 1849 the elder James Soames lived in the Westcombe Park Road, later he moved to Blackheath. His son followed him in 1854, living in n Maze Hill House facing Greenwich Park. He was a liberal and a supporter of various political, religious and social causes in Greenwich, in the Board of Guardians, and assisting at St Alphabet’s Church where his brother was the vicar. In 1890 he funded St George’s Kerbside Road, and installed Werner Henry Kolle Soames, as vicar. Walter Field Soames was Mayor of Greenwich in 1910 and 1911. Olave Soames, born in Westcombe Park Road, was to marry Baden Powell and become Chief Guide.
In 1854 James and Arthur Soames leased land in Great and Little Pitts from Morden College. They built there the Thames Steam Soap Works - later called the Thames Soap & Candle Works. Their soaps were for heavy duty use - Apron, Big Wilkie, Spry, Wonderful Washer and British Carbolic – and note here the references to the coal tar industries, then seen as disinfectant and good. Besides soap, the works did, as its name states, produce candles: Stearafine, Greenwich Sperm (surely based on whale oil); Pure Parafine; and a device for holding candles steady as they burn to the very end – the Greenwich Fix. No nonsense here about being kind to your hands – this stuff was designed to kill all ‘germs’.
A plan in the Morden College archives shows departments for paraffin, soap boiling and candle-making, with supporting laboratory, stables, maintenance departments, separate canteens for men and women, and housing for gate-keeper and foreman. More than 140 men and boys were employed there and women employed to cut and stamp toilet soap. In 1915 they added a gas fired engine house next to their saw mill. Most deliveries came to the jetty - these would have included fats and timber.
In the early 20th Century there was a slump in demand and a shortage of raw materials. In 1906 Wilkie & Soames began to receive many takeover bids. A northern soap manufacturer, Lever Brothers, founded a consortium of soap firms which Wilkie & Soames declined to join. The financial strength of the consortium enabled Lever Brothers to take them over in 1907. Despite lease on the site until 1937, the Thames Soap and Candle Works closed in 1930. The site became derelict – but not for long.
– but, lets say they were more positive than most.
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