JAMES SHANKS. 



In Lancashire James Shanks, as the 

 managing partner of Crosfields Bros. & Co , 

 won for himself the name of being an 

 exemplary works manager. In this capacity 

 he signalised himself by great industry, 

 energy, tact, and uprightness. For years he 

 made a point of being at the works before 

 the six o'clock bell rang of a morning, he 

 watched the workmen file in to their duties, 

 and if any unfortunate laggard was a few 

 minutes late, he would be greeted with 

 ironical obsequiousness by his master taking 

 off his hat, bowing to him, and saying, 

 " Good morning, sir!" But Shanks was not 

 only an admirable superintendent of men and 

 director of works, he was an excellent 

 practical chemist, and although possessed of 

 but little of the marvellous inventive genius 

 of William Gossage, he was fertile in resource, 

 and has associated his name with one 

 invention of great and abiding utility in the 

 manufacture of alkali, the "Shanks' Vat." 



James Shanks was born at Johnstone, in 

 Renfrewshire, on the 24th April, 1800. His 

 father, William Shanks, who belonged to 

 Fife, was a practical millwright and engineer. 



