Prentice Brothers Limited

Prentice Brothers Limited was an English fertiliser manufacturer founded in Stowmarket, Suffolk during the mid-1850s. The company produced a number of "chemical manure" products that used coprolites and rock phosphates among other ingredients.[1]

Prentice Brothers Limited
TypeLimited company
IndustryChemicals
Foundedc.1856 (1856) in Stowmarket, England[1]
FounderThomas Prentice
Defunct1929 (1929)
FateMerged with Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited
SuccessorFisons
ProductsFertilisers
Number of employees
40 (1874[2])

History

The Prentice family was prominent in Stowmarket at the time and operated a number of other businesses including a gasworks, corn and coal merchants, maltsters and a Guncotton Company.[3]

The fertiliser business was founded by Thomas Prentice and by 1866 was being run by his brothers, Eustace and Edward.[1] Manning Prentice joined the business in 1871 after Edward was killed in the nearby Guncotton explosion.[4] Manning Prentice developed patented techniques and processes around acids.[5][6]

In 1922 a fire destroyed part of the works and needed to be rebuilt, and the 1920s was a problematic period for the industry partly due to falling demand.[4] In 1929 the company merged with Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited whose company was subsequently renamed to Fison, Packard & Prentice, Limited.[7] The Prentice and Fison families had previously been joined by the marriage.[3] That company then formally changed its name to the shorter Fisons Ltd in 1942.[8]

The Food Museum has a number of items from the company including a coprolite grinding stone apparently used by the company.

Location

The Prentice Chemical Works was located on the eastern side of the railway line approaching to Stowmarket railway station. The business made use of the railway to transport its goods.[9] Today, the area is occupied by the Tomo Industrial Estate.

See also

References
  1. "STOWMARKET, SUFFOLK". www.bernardoconnor.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  2. "PrenticeNet :: Prentices of Palgrave, England". prenticenet.com. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. "The Prentice Family". Stowmarket History and Heritage. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007.
  4. Malster, Robert (2000). Stowmarket. Budding. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-84015-153-4. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  5. McDonald, Donald; Hunt, Leslie B. (1 January 1982). A History of Platinum and its Allied Metals. Johnson Matthey Plc. ISBN 978-0-905118-83-3.
  6. The Early Fertiliser Industry. Fisons Journal. December 1963.
  7. "Certificate of Change of Name - Packards, and James Fison (Thetford) Limited, Fison, Parkard and Prentice, Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  8. Early history of the company to 1960 Archived 20 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine at UK Competition Commission, 1960. (PDF) Accessed September 2007
  9. "Prentice Bros (Stowmarket) 14T tank wagon No.10, ex-Works. Chemical Works, Stowmarket. Wooden underframe". hmrs.org.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2021.

52.186590°N 1.004999°E / 52.186590; 1.004999

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