Gossage - Family History

Family History

William Gossage (1799-1877) was the founder of the dynasty and the youngest of 13 children. He was born in Burgh in the Marsh, near Skegness, Lincolnshire. He had his chemical training from his uncle, a druggist in Chesterfield to whom he was apprenticed at the age of 12, in 1823. He set up in business at Leamington, where he made Leamington Salts. There he met a girl and was married in 1830. Their first son was Alfred Howard Gossage, born 1830. The following year he fathered another son, Frederick Herbert Gossage(1831-1907)].

Around the same year of 1830, he set up partnership with Mr Farndon to form the British Alkali Works at Stoke Prior, Worcestershire. British alkali meant sodium carbonate made by the Leblanc Process. The process involved the use of coal, limestone, salt and sulphuric acid, which produced copious quantities of hydrogen chloride. The noxious gas destroyed the crops of nearby farmers. By 1836 Gossage had solved the problem with his Gossage Tower.

Gossage left Stoke Prior for Birmingham in 1841, where he entered the white lead trade. In 1844 he switched locations and businesses again, becoming a copper smelter in South Wales. However, he would return to Stoke Prior in 1848.

In 1850 he made his final move, to Widnes in Lancashire, where he set up a copper smelter. Vast quantities of iron pyrites (FeS) were burnt in the town. to produce sulphur compounds for the sulphuric acid vital for the Leblanc Process. Copper was a common impurity in pyrites, and he devised a way to extract from the burnt pyrites. However, as soon as the pyrites mine owners heard of his process, they adopted it themselves. Gossage ruefully observed

"That is the worst of telling people you can get something out of their refuse"

Gossage continued soda making in Widnes, patenting important new methods in 1852. His greatest commercial success was with 'silicated soap', pure soap with sodium silicate added. The corrosive water glass had to be neutralised somewhat by additives such as starch. His original patent for silicated soap was Patent BP 762/54, patented on April 3, 1854, rapidly followed with patents for the addition of other substances to the mixture. Examples are patents 826 and 908, for firming up the soap with the addition of 'wheat flour or other farinaceous substance', or 'finely divided china clay or flints'. Patent 908 also extended protection to silicated soaps made by the cold process (saponification without the addition of external heat). In 1856 provisional Patent 252, full patent 1293, was for adding extra fatty acids or salts of 'lime, magnesia, ammonia, alumina or mixtures of same. Patent 2100 of 1856 was also concerned with making the soap milder. The silicated soap could be made and sold for two pennies per pound, compared to six for normal soaps.

In 1857 he introduced 'Mottled soap' which had a marbled appearance. This became a best seller, domestically and abroad. It was protected by Patent 1120 of 21 April 1857. The original blocks of soap were brown. Wm Gossage called in James Hargreaves, (1834-1915) a local consultant chemist. After many sleepless nights they eventually discovered a way to produce a whitish soap with the mottle (particles of ultra marine) distributed evenly through it, producing a soap that looked rather like a blue cheese. Other companies followed his lead- mottled soaps were widely made, by companies such as Christopher Price of Bristol. It is unclear whether they copied Gossage's ideas, or had some kind of licensing agreement. Some sources say that the Gossage company was responsible for 50% of all the UK's soap exports in the 1860s and 1870s. Gossage made soaps for India and China. For domestic sale, it made special soaps, such as kosher soaps.

He retired from the business in the 1860s, leaving it to his sons Alfred and Frederick Herbert, and his astute business manager, Shirley Timmis. William Gossage died at his home in Bowdon, Cheshire, April 9, 1877, with less than £160,000 to his name. The 1881 Census reports that Alfred was then described as 'retired soap manufacturer'. Frederick Herbert became the manager of the company. He left around £720,000 in his will.