The Chemical Society of London and the Dye Industry in the 1860s

Abstract

UNTIL now the question of the relationship between science and industry, especially within the context of Britain's industrial decline after 1850, has been dominated by debates over the role of education. 1 This paper explores the possibility that, in the case of the growing sciencebased chemical industry, the answer may lie elsewhere, namely in the increasing division of interests between northern manufacturers and London-based gentlemen of science. Such considerations did not apply in 184I, the year of the formation of the Chemical Society of London, whose promoters expected that both science and its application might be served through formal sharing of new knowledge. Indeed, the journal of the new society included many important contributions from members engaged in industrial activities. This marriage of science and industry heralded the creation of London's Royal College of Chemistry,2 opened in 1845, and also gave inspiration to its teaching curriculum.3 Yet within a decade the college had fallen on hard times, and only managed to survive by merging with the Government School of Mines in 1853. Part of the problem was that academic chemists and members of the Chemical Society were concentrated in London, while the main sites of industrial activity were far to the north. Increasingly, south Lancashire was becoming the centre of the British chemical industry. London was not devoid of innovative chemical industry, but the activities were diverse and generally small scale, including the preparation offine chemicals for photography. The preparation of natural dyestuffs and drugs was of even greater importance. Such activities were prominent in the syllabus of the Royal College of Chemistry,4 and the research programmes of ·its principal, August Wilhelm Hofmann. Around 1860, chemical explanation based on Hofmann's theoretical contributions and research work almost unexpectedly became the support mechanism for a new industry that was at first led by many of his former students and assistants, and drew heavily on his two decades of research into coal tar products.