Albright and Wilson - Oldbury Division

Oldbury Division

In 1888 a patent was granted to four people from Wolverhampton covering the use of an electric furnace to produce white phosphorus from phosphate rock; and in 1890 they set up a works at Wednesfield to produce phosphorus. Albright and Wilson bought the patent and the works; and ran it for two years whilst they built their own furnace at Oldbury. The Wednesfield works was then closed down.

White phosphorus continued in production at Oldbury until 1972 when production was moved to Newfoundland. Bulk liquid white phosphorus was then transferred by special bulk tanker ship back to Portishead, Somerset. Unfortunately the move to Newfoundland had been inadequately planned and the Company encountered serious production problems with its new giant electric furnaces – several times larger than the Oldbury machines – and with the availability of skilled local labour. These problems contributed to the Company's poor financial performance and precipitated the take-over by Tenneco.