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Catalogue description British Xylonite Co Ltd, Brantham
This record is held by Suffolk Archives - Ipswich
| Reference: | HC410 |
|---|---|
| Title: | British Xylonite Co Ltd, Brantham |
| Description: |
The records in this collection are a substantial element of the total archive of this multi-site (and ultimately, multi-national) concern originating at Homerton in the present London Borough of Hackney, in 1877. The collection consists of records of the British Xylonite Company Ltd. from 1877, and B. X. Plastics Ltd. from 1939, accumulated at the Brantham site including site and plant records 1740-1970, administrative records 1883-1941, directors' working papers 1878-1972, production records 1869-1967, technical and laboratory records 1882-1970, staff, wages, work study and welfare records 1877-post 1966, material concerning the history of xylonite 1865-1981, publications 1922-1970, photographic material 1870s-1977, and miscellanea 1905-1945. HC410/A SITE, BUILDINGS AND PLANT RECORDS, BRANTHAM HC410/A1 Evidences of Title, etc HC410/A2 Registers of capital expenditure votes HC410/A3 Capital votes for improvements HC410/A4 Plant application books HC410/A5 Tenders for New Buildings HC410/A6 Fire Insurance records HC410/A7 Building Development HC410/A8 Railway Siding records HC410/A9 Brantham New Village HC410/A10 Spartina Grass application HC410/B ADMINISTRATION: LETTER BOOKS, ETC HC410/B1 B X Co (first series) HC410/B2 B X Co (second series) HC410/B3 General letter books HC410/B4 Messrs Hyatt (Homerton) HC410/B5/1 Merriam family and Directors HC410/B5/2 L P and C P Merriam HC410/B6 J S Warburton HC410/B7 C B Brooke, Junr HC410/B8 Statements HC410/B9 Cottages HC410/B10 Paper Drying Company HC410/B11 Costs HC410/B12 Benefit Clubs HC410/B13 Bexoid HC410/B14 Letters to Hale End - various Depts HC410/B15 Letters to outside firms - various Depts HC410/B16 'Make' Department HC410/C DIRECTORS' WORKING PAPERS HC410/C1 Annual reports and balance sheets HC410/C2 Secretary's letters HC410/C3 Papers of C F Merriam HC410/C4 Managers' Committee (Sproxton, Glover) HC410/C5 Factory reports (Sproxton, Glover) HC410/C6 Files - C M Glover HC410/C7 Company accounts - C M Glover HC410/C8 Staff Committee - W R Brown HC410/C9 Staff organisation - E H Lewcock HC410/D PRODUCTION RECORDS HC410/D1 Output summary records HC410/D2 Batch records HC410/D3 Miscellaneous papers HC410/E TECHNICAL AND LABORATORY RECORDS HC410/E1 Papers of Professor John Attfield HC410/E2 Formula books and microfilms HC410/E3 Process and Formula book - Homerton HC410/E4 Laboratory books - Brantham HC410/E5 Laboratory letter books HC410/E6 Description of Xyloidine Dept HC410/E7 Laboratory/Acid/Synthetic Camphor letter books HC410/E8 Laboratory and Halac letter books HC410/E9 Synthetic Camphor letter books HC410/E10 Laboratory account book HC410/E11 Synthetic Camphor Plant books HC410/E12 Temperature and humidity record HC410/E13 Press cuttings books HC410/E14 Records re inflammability of celluloid HC410/E15 Records re W W II German Plastics Industry HC410/E16 Reprints of technical literature HC410/E17 Enactments and regulations HC410/E18 Lecture notes on celluloid HC410/E19 Competitor review HC410/F STAFF, WAGES, WORK STUDY AND WELFARE RECORDS HC410/F1 Time books HC410/F2 Time and wages sheets HC410/F3 Averages of wages calculations HC410/F4 Work Study - labour analysis sheets HC410/F5 Production Bonus books HC410/F6 Office staff weekly wages books HC410/F7 Sick Fund accounts HC410/F8 Saving Bank ledgers HC410/F9 Savings Bank cash books HC410/F10 Savings Certifcate registers HC410/F11 War Bank ledgers HC410/F12 War Savings records HC410/F13 War Service records HC410/F14 Holiday(?) Pay book HC410/F15 'General Bonus Transfer' and dividend books HC410/F16 1926 Pension Scheme rules and records HC410/F17 Wages Rate book (laid-off staff) HC410/F18 Wartime and other wage rates HC410/F19 Wages Dept letter books HC410/F20 Works rules and regulations HC410/G MATERIAL CONCERNING THE HISTORY OF XYLONITE AND THE COMPANY HC410/H PUBLICATIONS HC410/H1 Technical and product literature HC410/H2 'Xylonite Magazine' and 'BXL Review' HC410/J PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL HC410/J1 Albums HC410/J2 Sundry photographs HC410/K MISCELLANEOUS |
| Date: | 1740-1981 |
| Held by: | Suffolk Archives - Ipswich, not available at The National Archives |
| Copies held at: |
A microfilm of the Board minutes 1877-1923 is available at Suffolk Record Office. The copyright position of this collection is complex and involves both B.X.L. Plastics Ltd. and Wardle Storeys Ltd. |
| Language: | English |
| Creator: |
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| Physical description: | 84 Series |
| Access conditions: |
Open to public access, except for material within last 30 years and certain series of records containing personal information concerning employees, which are closed for 75 years from the latest date of each item Requests for access to recent material, and for publication, to be referred to depositors |
| Immediate source of acquisition: |
Received by Suffolk Record Office 3 February 1981 and 27 April 1988 (Acc. nos. 6070, 6076, 6339, 6372, 8010, 8357, 8424, 8559) |
| Unpublished finding aids: |
The corporate records of the Company are mostly held at the Hackney Archives Dept., Rose Lipman Library, De Beauvoir Road, London N1 Further records of the Company and other constituents of the Bakelite Xylonite Group are held at the Science Museum Library, South Kensington, London SW7 Product catalogues, printed material, photographs and artefacts are held at the Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow Hackney Archives ref. D/B/XYL; S.R.O. microfilm J 433 Science Museum Library ref. ARCHIVES:BXL Vestry House Museum ref. W 24.5 XYL |
| Administrative / biographical background: |
The British Xylonite Company could justifiably claim to be the first British firm successfully to manufacture a plastic material in commercial quantities. Xylonite, better known by its American equivalent of 'celluloid', was invented by Alexander Parkes and first displayed in 1862 under the name of 'Parkesine'. Derived from the nitro-cellulose and collodion processes, it was initially used for making domestic articles in substitution for wood, horn, ivory or tortoiseshell. Its subsequent development was closely associated with Hackney, being taken up by Daniel Spill, rubber manufacturer, in 1864 and later by the Xylonite Company at Hackney Wick and the 'Ivoride' Works at Homerton High Street. The founders of the British Xylonite Company, Levi Parsons Merriam and his son Charles, established in 1875 a small business to make combs, imitation jewellery etc. next door to the 'Ivoride' Works; the two works merged in 1879. The original site being small and unsuitable, it was decided in 1887 to buy land at Brantham on the Suffolk bank of the River Stour and erect a purpose-built factory; finished goods continued to be made at Homerton until 1897 when a new factory was built at Hale End near Walthamstow (its products going by the trade name of 'Halex') which also housed the head office. Other types of plastics were introduced, and in 1938 the British Xylonite Company became a holding company with three subsidiaries: B.X. Plastics making xylonite and lactoid; Halex Ltd. making finished goods, and Cascelloid Ltd. making toys and bottles at Leicester and Coalville. The Distillers Company took a half-interest in 1939 and bought the entire Group in 1961, but in 1963 it formed part of a new grouping called Bakelite Xylonite Ltd. established jointly with Union Carbide, and including plants at Birmingham, Aycliffe and Grangemouth. Several sales and mergers took place in the 1960s and 1970s, the most significant being the sale of the Brantham and Aycliffe sites in 1966 to British Industrial Plastics, a subsidiary of Turner and Newall Ltd., who were in turn purchased in 1977 by Storey Brothers of Lancaster, formerly a major commercial rival. The Brantham site now operates under the name of Wardle Storeys and until recently manufactured limited quantities of xylonite using traditional processes and equipment. |
| Link to NRA Record: |
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