PREFACE 



THK Editor of the Chemical Trade Journal, Mr. 

 George E. Davis, asked me, in 1889, to write a few 

 articles for his journal on some of the notable and 

 truly remarkable men who founded the Alkali 

 Trade in Lancashire. The desire has been expressed 

 that I would republish these articles in a more 

 permanent form. 



After careful consideration, I have thought it 

 expedient to make no alterations in the original 

 articles, but to republish them just as they ap- 

 peared, being mainly biographical sketches of men 

 WHO have passed away, and a story of the industry 

 with which they were connected. 



Since 1890 the alkali trade has been transformed, 

 by the absorption of nearly all the leading private 

 concerns into the great trust or combine, the 

 United Alkali Company. 



There was a personal element in the story of 

 many private concerns, which is absent from 

 limited companies, and we miss to-day such men 



