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Difference between revisions of "Royal Primrose Soap Works"

From London's Ghost Acres

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|is_in=West Ham
 
|is_in=West Ham
 
|produced=Soap, Candles, Edible Oils, Oil Cake, Glue, Glycerine
 
|produced=Soap, Candles, Edible Oils, Oil Cake, Glue, Glycerine
|raw_material=Cotton Seeds, Tallow, Palm Oil
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|raw_material=Cotton Seeds, Tallow, Palm Oil, Ashes
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Ownership record
 
{{Ownership record
|from_date=1800
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|from_date=1880
 
|to_date=1922
 
|to_date=1922
 
|was_owned_by=John Knight's Soap
 
|was_owned_by=John Knight's Soap
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}}
 
}}
 
==Description==
 
==Description==
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The Royal Primrose Soap Works was a Silvertown soap factory run by John Knight Ltd. The company was established in 1817 in Wapping by John Knight before his sons moved the company to Silvertown in 1880. John Knight was originally making candles when he came up with the idea to use the waste materials to make soap instead. Soap is made through a process called saponification: boiling oils or fats with an alkali (lye, or [[caustic soda]]), which produces the soap and a glycerine. John Knight was able to use animal waste such as the fat, bones, or hooves, and [[ashes]] to create soap. The company started producing their famous Royal Primrose Soap in 1844 and won an award at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Another famous product was the Knight’s Castile soap. Throughout the 20th century the company expanded into other productions involving animal waste, including glue, fertilizer, and oils.
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[[John Knight’s soap]] factory relied on [[cottonseed]], [[tallow]] and [[palm oil]] sourced from [[Egypt]], [[West Africa]], [[Australasia]] and numerous other locations.
 
[[John Knight’s soap]] factory relied on [[cottonseed]], [[tallow]] and [[palm oil]] sourced from [[Egypt]], [[West Africa]], [[Australasia]] and numerous other locations.
  
From Grace's Guide:  
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http://www.saria.co.uk/news/pdms_silvertown_plant_celebrates_130_years_heritage.html
John Knight Ltd, of Old Gravel Lane, Wapping, London; The Royal Primrose Soap Works, London.
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of Silvertown, London, E16. (1922)
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http://www.stgite.org.uk/media/churchwardens.html
1817 Company founded by John Knight, at Wapping, London.
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1844 Produced 'Royal primrose' soap.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap  
1851 Won a Prize Medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition.
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1850s Employed 150 persons and produced between two and three thousand tons of soap per annum.
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http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Knight
1880 Business moved to Silvertown. The Royal Primrose Soap Works, Knights Road, Silvertown, was opened by John Knight Ltd.
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1906 The company of John Knight Ltd was registered on 13 November, to acquire the undertaking of John Knight and Sons, soap makers and perfumers. [1]. Public company incorporated.
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By 1922 was an associate company of Lever Brothers[2]
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1922 Listed Exhibitor. Soap; Household, Laundry, Perfumed, Soft, Medicinal, Shaving, Flakes, Powder; Dye Soap. Toilet Preparations; Glue; Tallow; Edible Dripping; Edible Oils; Oil Cake for Cattle Feeding. (Stand No. A.68) [3]
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1939 Knight's Castile and Solidox adverts
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1940. Zixt advert.
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1946 Entered into an arrangement with R. S. Hudson Ltd to form a new marketing company called Hudson and Knight to act as selling agents for the products of both companies to grocers and chemists[4]. Food rationing affected the supplies of raw materials to the fat melting and bone processing department; the vegetable adhesive department continued to make progress despite constraints on supplies of paper and cardboard, the main users of these products; seed crushing and oil refinery department was supplying makers of cattle cake and edible oils.
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1949 Hudson and Knight were unable to satisfy demand for the 2 major products, Knights Castile and Family Health Soap, due to rationing; demand for Shavallo Shaving Cream increased by 50 percent (not restricted by rationing)[5]
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1959 Over 1,200 employees, making soap, tallow, glue, fertilizers, vegetable adhesives, and dripping
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It is now a subsidiary of Unilever Ltd.
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Revision as of 18:27, 28 May 2015



Operation

1880


Location

Loading map...


Located in

West Ham


Produced

Soap, Candles, Edible Oils, Oil Cake, Glue, Glycerine


Used Raw Materials

Cotton Seeds, Tallow, Palm Oil, Ashes


|1880 |1922 |John Knight's Soap |-


|1880 |The date "{{{to_date}}}" was not understood.The date "{{{to_date}}}" was not understood. |Soap, Candle and Related Fat Based Industires |-

Description

The Royal Primrose Soap Works was a Silvertown soap factory run by John Knight Ltd. The company was established in 1817 in Wapping by John Knight before his sons moved the company to Silvertown in 1880. John Knight was originally making candles when he came up with the idea to use the waste materials to make soap instead. Soap is made through a process called saponification: boiling oils or fats with an alkali (lye, or caustic soda), which produces the soap and a glycerine. John Knight was able to use animal waste such as the fat, bones, or hooves, and ashes to create soap. The company started producing their famous Royal Primrose Soap in 1844 and won an award at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Another famous product was the Knight’s Castile soap. Throughout the 20th century the company expanded into other productions involving animal waste, including glue, fertilizer, and oils.

John Knight’s soap factory relied on cottonseed, tallow and palm oil sourced from Egypt, West Africa, Australasia and numerous other locations.

http://www.saria.co.uk/news/pdms_silvertown_plant_celebrates_130_years_heritage.html

http://www.stgite.org.uk/media/churchwardens.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/John_Knight