James Muspratt - Retirement

Retirement

In 1851 Muspratt largely withdrew from the business although he supported his sons, Richard and Frederic 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 dunes 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.