عنوان

The development and location of the soap manufacturing industry in Great Britain, 1700-1850

Number

TLets540864

Title Proper

The development and location of the soap manufacturing industry in Great Britain, 1700-1850

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Gittins, Leonard

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

1962

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Text preceding or following the note

1962

Text of Note

Before 1700 the manufacture of soap was carried on inmxnerouo small houses throughout the country. The chiefsoap making centres were London and Bristol.Until about 1750 Tuch of the hard soap used in BritainEvas imported from Southern Europe. By 1785 Britain hadbecome largely self cufficiont for supplies of hard soapand the proportion of soft soap =ado doolinod to leas than10 of the total.Between 1785 and 1851 the number of licensed soapma'wrs in Britain declined from 971 to 176 and the averageoutput por firm rose fron about 20 to 500 tons a year.Thore was a marked dooline in the number of small soapmakers situated away from the main industrial towns of theMidlands and the North and the ports of London, Liverpoolant Glasgow.About 1830 synthotic soda came into general use in themanufacture of soap, forty years after tho procecs of iianufaoturingcoda from aalt had been perfeoted by Zeblano.01§41 This deli] was probably because there was an adequate supplyof imported vegetable alkali and boeause the soap rakersdid not vrioh to make use of the noro convenient synthotioalkZ Li, A few soap works on tho canal bank cites, idealfor the acewmulation of raw matorials, were able to exploitthe new source of alkali for a few years but they failed tocapture much of the trade of Liverpool or London.Fron an early date the ranußaoture of soap was dependentupon imported raw materials and the greatest concentrationsof the industry were located at the ports. In the first halfof the 19th century, Liverpool had advantages in the manufacture,in the export market, and in the industrial marketsfor soap, yet the demand for soap by the population of Londonsustained London as the chief soap producing area in Britain.

Gittins, Leonard

London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y