Welsh Journals

The decline of the British LeBlanc Alkali Industry in the nineteenth century- a spatial perspective M. H. MATTHEWS Lecturer in Geography, Lanchester Polytechnic Abstract The historical geography of the heavy chemical industry in Britain is a much neglected topic. Historical writings on the industry have tended to concentrate upon its evolving technologies and those which have considered its locations look at it from specific regional viewpoints, rather than providing an overall spatial perspective. This discussion attempts to remedy this absence by focusing upon the changing distribution of the most important facet of the heavy chemical sector in the nineteenth century, the LeBlanc alkali industry. Attention is confined to the period after 1870 when the LeBlanc industry underwent a vast re-organisation, the geographical legacy of which is still expressed in the location of the modern heavy chemical industry. Introduction The LeBlanc industry dominated industrial chemical production in Britain for most of the nineteenth century. It was associated with the manufacture of heavy chemicals, particularly acids, bleaches and alkalis (fig. 1). Until the early 1870's there were few signs that the period of prosperity enjoyed by British LeBlanc manufacturers since the 1850's would not continue. However, increasingly basic flaws began to appear in the fabric and organisation of the LeBlanc trade which were to have far-reaching repercussions on the size and the distribution of the industry. The decline which became most evident after 1880 was characterised by differential regional adjust- ment to the growing pressures of competition. In 1890 a programme to revive the industry was initiated by the United Alkali Company. This company included most of the principal alkali manufacturers. As a result the whole character and pattern of LeBlanc production was greatly altered. This paper attempts to provide a spatial perspective to the dramatic changes that took place within the