Courtaulds was a United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals.
The Company was founded by George Courtauld

George Courtauld

George Courtauld was the founder of Courtaulds which was to become one the United Kingdom's largest textile businesses.-Career:Apprenticed to a Spitalfields silk weaver in 1775, George Courtauld first worked on his own as silk throwster. Between 1785 and 1794 he made a number of visits to America...

 and his cousin Peter Taylor (1790–1850) in 1794 as a silk, crepe and textile business at Pebmarsh

Pebmarsh

Pebmarsh is a small village and a civil parish the Braintree district, in Essex, England. It is situated to the north east of Halstead close to the A131.- External links :*****...

 in north Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 trading as George Courtauld & Co. In 1810, his American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-born son Samuel Courtauld

Samuel Courtauld (industrialist)

Samuel Courtauld was an industrialist and Unitarian, chiefly remembered as the driving force behind the rapid growth of the Courtauld textile business in Britain....

 was managing his own silk

Silk

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...

 mill in Braintree, Essex

Braintree, Essex

Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.Braintree has grown contiguous...

.

In 1818, George Courtauld returned to America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, leaving Samuel Courtauld and Taylor to expand the business – now known as Courtauld & Taylor – by building further mills in Halstead

Halstead

Halstead is a town and civil parish located in Braintree District of Essex, England, near Colchester and Sudbury. It has a population of 11,053. The town is situated in the Colne Valley, and originally developed on the hill to the north of the river...

 and Bocking

Bocking

Bocking can refer to:*Bocking, a village near Braintree, Essex*Bocking 14, a cultivated strain of the plant Comfrey*Powerbocking, the use of powered stilts patented by Alexander Böck...

.