Staveley Coal and Iron Company

Infobox Defunct company
company_name = Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited
company_
slogan =
company_type =
fate = Taken over
Predecessor = ?
successor = Stewart & Lloyd's, BSC
foundation = ?
defunct = 1960 t/o
location = Staveley, Derbyshire
industry = Mining, Ironworks, Chemicals
products = Pipes, Chemicals
key_people = Charles Paxton Markham
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was an industrial company based in Staveley, near Chesterfield, North Derbyshire. It exploited local ironstone quarried from land owned by the Duke of Devonshire on the outskirts of the village. It developed into coal mining, owning several collieries and also into chemical production, first from those available from coal tar distillation, later to cover a wide and diverse range. Part of the plant at Staveley was a sulphuric acid manufacturing unit making use of the Solvay Process.

It was during the years of World War 1 that the company developed its chemical operations beyond coal-tar chemicals and began production of sulphuric and nitric acids. During the war they also made picric acid, TNT and guncotton. Following the end of hostilities the company laid plans to develop a range of chlorinated organics and to this end purchased salt bearing land near Sandbach, Cheshire. The salt was produced by a new company formed specifically for the purpose and named the British Soda Company. The salt being needed to feed a new installation of mercury cells at the Staveley works. The first cells at Staveley came into operation in 1922 and in 1926 they went into partnership with the Krebs Company of Paris and Berlin to develop a new cell, which was based on lessons learned. This was marketed worldwide as the Krebs-Staveley cell. This installation lasted into the late 1950s when the cellroom ay Staveley was replaced with German-made mercury cells.

In 1960 the Staveley Iron and Chemical Company, which had been taken over by Stewarts & Lloyds Limited was merged with the Ilkeston-based Stanton Iron Works to form Stanton and Staveley Ltd. In 1967 Stewarts and Lloyds became part of the nationalised British Steel Corporation, Stanton and Staveley also being incorporated. By 1980 BSC sold off sections of the site as they divested themselves of non-core activities and by 2007 most of the former works at Staveley has been shut down and cleared.

The former Chesterfield MP Eric Varley was an apprentic with the company in leaving school before he becane a trade union man and then latter became Chairman of another local firm Coalite. [http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/chesterfield/Former-Chesterfield-MP-dies-at.4337473.jp]

References

* A brief history of Staveley, Derbyshire.
* The Salt Association - Electrolysis of Brine

Footnotes

* [http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/lss/services/mss/online/online-mss-catalogues/cats/port_londonple_minerals.html Duke of Portland papers] - related to coal leases (Derbyshire & Notts area)