James Muspratt
Encyclopedia
James Muspratt was a British chemical
manufacturer who was the first to make alkali
by the Leblanc process
on a large scale in the United Kingdom.
to take part in the Peninsular War
. He followed the British army on foot into the interior, was laid up with fever at Madrid
, and, narrowly escaping capture by the French, succeeded in making his way to Lisbon
where he joined the navy. After taking part in the blockade of Brest
he deserted because of the harshness of the discipline.
and acetic
acids and turpentine
, adding prussiate of potash
a few years later.
Sodium carbonate
, also known as soda ash, is an effective industrial alkali
. The manufacture of sodium carbonate from common salt was first developed in France in the 1790s and known as the Leblanc process
. Muspratt was attracted towards manufacturing it, but could not raise the capital for the relatively expensive Leblanc plant and also considered that Dublin was not a suitable location for this. He perceived Merseyside as better because of the neighbouring coal fields, the proximity to the salt district of Cheshire, and the proximity to glassmaking industry. The glassmakers were the main prospective customer base for the sodium carbonate
alkali.
In 1822 he went to Liverpool
and took a lease of an abandoned glass-works on the bank of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
. Though already determined to work the Leblanc process, he did not immediately possess the capital for it, and he therefore continued the production of prussiate of potash, which was profitable, and plough the profits into building the lead chambers and the other necessaries of a complete Leblanc works. Fortuitously in 1823 the duty or tax of £30 per ton was taken off salt. He began to make sodium carbonate alkali by the Leblanc process in 1823.
In 1828 he built works at St Helens, Merseyside
, in partnership with Josias Gamble, another Irish-born chemist. But after two years the partnership ended and Muspratt moved to Newton-le-Willows
, Merseyside. This factory closed in 1851.
He was repeatedly involved in litigation
because of the pollution caused. In 1828 he was cited as causing a public nuisance
and fined one shilling
. In 1831 he was indicted
but was acquitted on this occasion. In 1838 after a trial lasting three days, with 40 witnesses for the prosecution and 46 for the defence, a jury found Muspratt guilty of "creating and maintaining a nuisance". At this time he was employing 120 on the Vauxhall Road site which had two chimneys, one of which was 50 yards high.
in starting new alkali works at Wood End, Widnes
and Flint
. After his retirement in 1857 his business was continued by his four sons. However in 1867 he took over the management of Frederic's factory at Wood End before passing it on to another son, Edmund
.
In the 1830s he had experimented in producing sodium carbonate alkali by the ammonia-soda process
but was unsuccessful. In 1834–1835, in conjunction with Charles Tennant
, he purchased sulphur mines in Sicily
, to provide the raw material for the sulphuric acid needed for the Leblanc process. However when the Neapolitan
government imposed a prohibitive duty on sulphur, Muspratt found a substitute in iron pyrites which was introduced as the raw material for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Muspratt had been one of the original subscribers to the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
in 1833 when he purchased 15 shares at £100 each.
In 1819 he married Julia Josephine Connor with whom he had 10 children, three of whom died in infancy. He built a house, Seaforth Hall on dune
s at Seaforth, Merseyside
. In 1825 he helped to found the Liverpool Institute for Boys
and in 1848 he assisted his son James Sheridan
to establish the Liverpool College of Practical Chemistry. He died at Seaforth Hall in 1886 and was buried in Walton, Merseyside
, parish churchyard.
Chemical substance
In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e. without breaking chemical bonds. They can be solids, liquids or gases.Chemical substances are...
manufacturer who was the first to make alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
by the Leblanc process
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
on a large scale in the United Kingdom.
Early life
James Muspratt was born in Dublin of English parents, the youngest of three children. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a wholesale druggist, but his father died in 1810 and his mother soon afterwards. He left Dublin and in 1812 he went to SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
to take part in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. He followed the British army on foot into the interior, was laid up with fever at Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, and, narrowly escaping capture by the French, succeeded in making his way to Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
where he joined the navy. After taking part in the blockade of Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
he deserted because of the harshness of the discipline.
Industry
Returning to Dublin in about 1814, he came into an inheritance and in 1818 established a chemical works in partnership with Thomas Abbott. Here he began to manufacture chemical products such as hydrochloricHydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
and acetic
Acetic acid
Acetic acid is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CO2H . It is a colourless liquid that when undiluted is also called glacial acetic acid. Acetic acid is the main component of vinegar , and has a distinctive sour taste and pungent smell...
acids and turpentine
Turpentine
Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin obtained from trees, mainly pine trees. It is composed of terpenes, mainly the monoterpenes alpha-pinene and beta-pinene...
, adding prussiate of potash
Potassium ferrocyanide
Potassium ferrocyanide is the inorganic compound with formula K4[Fe6]•3H2O. It is the potassium salt of the coordination complex [Fe6]4-. This salt forms lemon-yellow monoclinic crystals.-Synthesis:...
a few years later.
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
, also known as soda ash, is an effective industrial alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
. The manufacture of sodium carbonate from common salt was first developed in France in the 1790s and known as the Leblanc process
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
. Muspratt was attracted towards manufacturing it, but could not raise the capital for the relatively expensive Leblanc plant and also considered that Dublin was not a suitable location for this. He perceived Merseyside as better because of the neighbouring coal fields, the proximity to the salt district of Cheshire, and the proximity to glassmaking industry. The glassmakers were the main prospective customer base for the sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
alkali.
In 1822 he went to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and took a lease of an abandoned glass-works on the bank of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
. Though already determined to work the Leblanc process, he did not immediately possess the capital for it, and he therefore continued the production of prussiate of potash, which was profitable, and plough the profits into building the lead chambers and the other necessaries of a complete Leblanc works. Fortuitously in 1823 the duty or tax of £30 per ton was taken off salt. He began to make sodium carbonate alkali by the Leblanc process in 1823.
In 1828 he built works at St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, in partnership with Josias Gamble, another Irish-born chemist. But after two years the partnership ended and Muspratt moved to Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows is a small market town within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is situated about midway between the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, to the east of St Helens, to the north of Warrington and to the south of...
, Merseyside. This factory closed in 1851.
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
because of the pollution caused. In 1828 he was cited as causing a public nuisance
Public nuisance
In English criminal law, public nuisance is a class of common law offence in which the injury, loss or damage is suffered by the local community as a whole rather than by individual victims.-Discussion:...
and fined one shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
. In 1831 he was indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
but was acquitted on this occasion. In 1838 after a trial lasting three days, with 40 witnesses for the prosecution and 46 for the defence, a jury found Muspratt guilty of "creating and maintaining a nuisance". At this time he was employing 120 on the Vauxhall Road site which had two chimneys, one of which was 50 yards high.
Retirement
In 1851 Muspratt largely withdrew from the business although he supported his sons, Richard and FredericFrederic Muspratt
Frederic Muspratt was a chemist and industrialist who established a chemical factory in Widnes, Lancashire, England....
in starting new alkali works at Wood End, Widnes
Widnes
Widnes is an industrial town within the borough of Halton, in Cheshire, England, with an urban area population of 57,663 in 2004. It is located on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn...
and Flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
. After his retirement in 1857 his business was continued by his four sons. However in 1867 he took over the management of Frederic's factory at Wood End before passing it on to another son, Edmund
Edmund Knowles Muspratt
Edmund Knowles Muspratt was an English chemical industrialist.-Early life and education:Edmund Knowles Muspratt was born in Seaforth, near Liverpool, England, the fourth and youngest son of James Muspratt and his wife Julia Josephine née Connor...
.
In the 1830s he had experimented in producing sodium carbonate alkali by the ammonia-soda process
Solvay process
The Solvay process, also referred to as the ammonia-soda process, is the major industrial process for the production of soda ash . The ammonia-soda process was developed into its modern form by Ernest Solvay during the 1860s...
but was unsuccessful. In 1834–1835, in conjunction with Charles Tennant
Charles Tennant
Charles Tennant was a Scottish chemist and industrialist. He discovered bleaching powder and founded an industrial dynasty.- Biography:...
, he purchased sulphur mines in Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, to provide the raw material for the sulphuric acid needed for the Leblanc process. However when the Neapolitan
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
government imposed a prohibitive duty on sulphur, Muspratt found a substitute in iron pyrites which was introduced as the raw material for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Muspratt had been one of the original subscribers to the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, later known as St Helens Railway, was an early railway company in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area which would later develop into the town of Widnes. Branches were opened to Garston, Warrington...
in 1833 when he purchased 15 shares at £100 each.
In 1819 he married Julia Josephine Connor with whom he had 10 children, three of whom died in infancy. He built a house, Seaforth Hall on dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s at Seaforth, Merseyside
Seaforth, Merseyside
Seaforth is a district within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. It is located to the north of Liverpool, between Bootle and Waterloo.-History:...
. In 1825 he helped to found the Liverpool Institute for Boys
Liverpool Institute for Boys
The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys was an all-boys grammar school in the English port city of Liverpool.The school had its origins in 1825 but occupied different premises while the money was found to build a dedicated building on Mount Street. The Institute was first known as the...
and in 1848 he assisted his son James Sheridan
James Sheridan Muspratt
James Sheridan Muspratt was a research chemist and teacher. His most influential publication was his two-volume book Chemistry, Theoretical, Practical and Analytical as applied and relating to the Arts and Manufactures .James Sheridan Muspratt was born in Dublin and moved to Liverpool with his...
to establish the Liverpool College of Practical Chemistry. He died at Seaforth Hall in 1886 and was buried in Walton, Merseyside
Walton, Merseyside
Walton, originally known as Walton-on-the-Hill, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, is an area situated to the north of Anfield and the east of Bootle and Orrell Park. It is largely residential, with a diverse population.-History:...
, parish churchyard.