Unichema (Price's)

Company name: Unichema Chemicals Ltd
Former name: Price's Chemicals Ltd; Price's (Bromborough) Ltd
Registered number: 155012
Date of acquisition: 1937
Date sold/struck off: Jul 1997

BEGINNINGS
Price`s Patent Candle Co. was founded by William Wilson, from Lanarkshire, who moved to London in 1812 aged 40. He took a partner, Benjamin Lancaster, and set up as a broker and merchant in Russian goods, including tallow used in
candle making.
The move into candle manufacture came about after the acquisition of a patent
in 1830 for separating coconut oil into solid and liquid parts (by hydraulic
pressure) for use as a tallow substitute for the making of better candles.

PRICES PATENT CANDLE CO.
Wilson and Lancaster built a coconut pressing factory at Vauxhall (sold in 1864). The company took the name of Edward Price & Co. There was no Edward Price, the surname was that of Lancaster`s aunt. Lancaster later sold his interest (to three sleeping partners) and the company was run by William Wilson and his sons James and George. The company was converted to Price`s Patent Candle Co., a joint stock company on 29 May 1847.
A method for distillation in steam had been patented in 1842 and this process
revolutionised fatty acid refining, leading to the production of the first
white non-odorous stearine.
In October 1849, a night light trade at Brompton was acquired and production
moved to Belmont Works, Battersea in 1850. By 1851 the Wilsons ran three
schools for children employed by them. Expansion plans were thwarted due to a
lack of space and poor housing conditions, and as Liverpool was the import
centre for West African palm oil, the decision was made to move north.
A method of purifying the glycerine removed from crude fats was devised and the company became the only manufacturer of pure glycerine for several years.

BROMBOROUGH POOL
A village was built at Bromborough Pool for company employees, pre-dating the
concept of Port Sunlight by over 30 years. See separate entry for Bromborough
Pool (under "Places").
James Wilson died in 1890 and George Wilson in 1902.

ACQUISITIONS
October 1849 - night light trade of Mr Childs, Brompton;
1890 - Veitch, Wilson, Halliday & Co. of Manchester (lubricating oil);
1890s - Edward Beach & Co. (candles), Broad`s Night Light Co., Ogleby & Co.
(candles), E&H Holdsworth (candles);
1910 - Clarke`s Pyramid & Fairy Light Co., Cricklewood;
1912 - Charles Price & Co. of Belvedere (lubricants) [closed 1919], Francis
Tucker & Co. Ltd. (church candles).

TAKE OVER BY LEVER BROTHERS
The company diversified and started to produce goods such as motor car oil (motorine), and soap. By 1901 the company was known as Price`s Soap & Candle Co. of Battersea, and was associated with D&W Gibbs. As candle manufacturers Price`s were an important competitor of Lever Brothers, which led to the latter acquiring the company in October 1919.

PRICES (BROMBOROUGH) LTD
After the First World War fatty acid production was concentrated at the Bromborough site and in 1936 Price`s interests were separated with the Battersea site producing candles and night lights (this interest was sold). As
well as fatty acid production the Bromborough works specialised in fatty alcohols (from 1939 onwards) and other oleo-chemicals and became Prices (Bromborough) Ltd on 20 March 1936. It became part of the Unilever group in 1937. A new plant was opened at Bromborough in November 1950 for separating stearic and oleic acids. In 1951 came innovations in the isolation of fatty acids which gave rise to a whole range of oleo-chemicals necessary for a variety of manufacturing industries - textiles, leather, cosmetics, lubricants, plastics, polishes, stencils, pharmaceuticals, and so on. The development of these fatty-acid products became increasingly important as the amount of fatty acids produced by the margarine industry increased, while the proportion formerly absorbed by soap-making dropped with the coming of synthetic detergents. A new plant for castor fatty acids was opened in 1959.

Prices formed the Unilever UK Chemical Group with the Walker Chemical Co. in 1964 and the company changed its name to Prices Chemicals Ltd on 1 November 1968. The same year saw further factory expansion (with a fatty acids/glycerine plant going on stream in 1971).

UNICHEMA CHEMICALS LTD
After a change in policy agreed by Unilever in 1968 to coordinate UK and Continental oleo chemical companies, it was decided that a common identity was required in order to emphasize to customers and suppliers the fact that the qualities of service and reliability associated with the three divisions - Price's, VSW Germania (Emmerich) and Aldag Fettchemie (Hamburg-Bergedof) - belonged to the same family. The name Unichema was adopted in 1971, at which point VSW Germania (Emmerich) and Aldag Fettchemie (Hamburg-Bergdorf) immediately changed their names.

Unichema - or the Fatty Acids Division until 1973 - manufactured fatty acids, glycerine, and oleochemicals. As Unilever was one of the world's largest traders and users of oils and fats, Unichema's position was quite strong. Intra-firm sales to Unilever edible fats and detergents companies accounted for around 85 percent of total sales. Overall Unichema accounted for around 30 percent of the total European market for fatty acids and glycerine. However, as these were basically commodities, with no brand loyalty, this market share was too low. The main production sites of Bromborough in Britain and Emmerich and Bergedorf in (Hamburg) lagged far behind in terms of efficiency. This was mainly due to no research or chemical engineering expertise and little marketing capability.

Owing to opposition from a British registered company bearing a name very similar to Unichema, Price's (Bromborough) were unable to make the change to Unichema Chemicals Ltd until 1 September 1977, although a temporary solution was reached by adopting the business name of Unichema International for the sales organisation.

Unichema was sold as part of the speciality chemicals sale to ICI in July 1997.

Further Information:
Progress Spring 1951; Port Sunlight News July/August 1954; Price`s Village by Alan Watson (1966).

[In line with UARM's policy on confidentiality and closure periods, certain records in this series may be closed]