260 PETER SPENCE 



In the year 1834 he left Dundee and 

 proceeded to London, where he established 

 himself in a small way as a chemical manu- 

 facturer, and his earliest patent is dated 

 July 27th, 1836, his address being Henry 

 Street, Commercial Road, in the County of 

 Middlesex. His first essay in invention was 

 to achieve, what Peter Spence constantly 

 aimed at, the Utilisation of Waste Products 

 or Refuse Material ; in the present instance 

 he sought to manufacture Prussian Blue, 

 Prussiate of Potash, and Plaster of Paris from 

 the refuse lime and the refuse lime liquors of 

 gas works. 



The London venture was a failure, and 

 Spence and his wife had again to undergo 

 great hardships. The scene of his labours is 

 next transferred from London to a chemical 

 works at Burgh, in Cumberland. His spirit 

 of invention found no recorded outlet for 

 some years; not until 1845 was Peter Spence 

 able to do anything that he deemed worthy of 

 patenting, although he had been incessantly 

 experimenting, but on the 27th of November 

 in that year he sought protection for a process 

 for the manufacture of copperas and alum. 

 This discovery was the result of accident; he 

 had been seeking in every direction a suitable 



