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Elementis
Elementis plc is one of the UK's largest speciality chemicals and personal care businesses, with extensive operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Its predecessor business, Harrisons & Crosfield, was formed in 1844 as a tea merchant and traded under that name for 150 years. It became one of the leading British firms in the south and the south-east Asia plantations industry before it gradually divested its interests in the post-colonial era. Diversification initially concentrated on chemicals, timber and builders’ merchants and animal foodstuffs. Eventually, the firm concentrated only on chemicals and changed its name to Elementis.
The Harrisons & Crosfield partnership was formed in 1844 between Daniel and Smith Harrison and Joseph Crosfield to trade in tea and coffee, which was to be the core of the business until the end of the nineteenth century. Daniel, born in 1795, was the senior having been trading in Liverpool since the 1820s. His brother Smith Harrison was 23 years younger while Joseph Crosfield had previously been an employee of Daniel. 80% of the business was in tea, imported from China, and 20% coffee from South America. The firm moved to London in 1854 and by the 1860s it was the third largest tea trader. Control passed to the next generation in the second half of the century, with two Harrison and three Crosfield partners.
Until the 1890s, Harrisons & Crosfield was just a respected London merchant. By then the two men who were to revolutionize the business had joined: Arthur Lampard in 1881 and Heath Clark in 1885. The first change was that rather than just merchanting, the firm began blending its own tea under the brand “Nectar” and a large export business was developed from Ceylon Wharf on the South Bank. (The Nectar brand was later sold to Twinings). Clark handled the domestic market while Lampard opened offices around the world to handle the export business and to develop local trade. Lampard visited Russia in 1895 to establish a tea trade there and immediately sailed for Ceylon to organize the export of tea to what would prove to be its largest market. He then opened a branch in Columbo under the name of Crosfield Lampard setting Harrisons & Crosfield on the path to what would be its dominant activity for nearly a century: tropical plantations of tea, followed by rubber, timber and palm oil.
Harrison & Crosfield was one of a number of British firms that controlled plantations across south-east Asia through the agency system. The development of a plantation required committing substantial capital for a period of years before the first crops matured. Typically, the agency would provide all the administration, technical, financial and commercial expertise but the capital would be raised externally. Frequently, the capital came from a London Stock Exchange flotation, with the agency acting as secretary. The agency might subscribe for only a few per cent of the capital but it exercised effective control. An indication of the profusion of these quoted plantation companies is that, to take a year at random, there were 79 of them in 1935.
Harrisons & Crosfield handled too many agencies to detail separately. The first venture was the purchase of the small Hopton tea estate in Ceylon; Hopton in turn was one of four estates consolidated into the Lunuva Tea Company in 1907. In India, a Calcutta branch was opened in 1900 promoting the export of tea to North America. Extensive purchases of land were made in southern India leading to the formation of the East India Tea and Produce Company, the Malayalam Rubber and Produce Company and the Meppadi Wynaad Tea Company.
The turn of the century saw the development of the rubber plantation, natural rubber previously being tapped in the wild in South America. The Straits Plantations Ltd (operating in the then Straits Settlements) transferred to the Harrisons & Crosfield agency in 1902 but later companies were formed by Harrisons to buy smaller estates and group them into larger company structures. The Pataling Rubber Estates Syndicate was formed in 1903; Golden Hope Rubber Estate and Anglo-Malay Rubber in 1905; and London Asiatic Rubber and Produce in 1907. In that same year Lampard visited Sumatra and repeated the consolidation process that had taken place in Malaya. Tandjong Rubber Company and United Serdang (Sumatra) Rubber Plantations were both formed and floated. In 1909 holdings in many of the tea and rubber companies were transferred to the Rubber Plantations Investment Trust which was also floated.
In the midst of all its company flotations, Harrisons & Crosfield had its own reorganization. Retirement and withdrawal of capital by partners was a constraint and the expansion of Harrisons trading required more capital. In 1908 the partnership was converted to a company and was floated on the Stock Exchange. However, the public issue was confined to preference shares; the ordinary shares remained with the partners and senior employees. The Company continues to this day as Elementis (Holdings).
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Elementis
Elementis plc is one of the UK's largest speciality chemicals and personal care businesses, with extensive operations in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Its predecessor business, Harrisons & Crosfield, was formed in 1844 as a tea merchant and traded under that name for 150 years. It became one of the leading British firms in the south and the south-east Asia plantations industry before it gradually divested its interests in the post-colonial era. Diversification initially concentrated on chemicals, timber and builders’ merchants and animal foodstuffs. Eventually, the firm concentrated only on chemicals and changed its name to Elementis.
The Harrisons & Crosfield partnership was formed in 1844 between Daniel and Smith Harrison and Joseph Crosfield to trade in tea and coffee, which was to be the core of the business until the end of the nineteenth century. Daniel, born in 1795, was the senior having been trading in Liverpool since the 1820s. His brother Smith Harrison was 23 years younger while Joseph Crosfield had previously been an employee of Daniel. 80% of the business was in tea, imported from China, and 20% coffee from South America. The firm moved to London in 1854 and by the 1860s it was the third largest tea trader. Control passed to the next generation in the second half of the century, with two Harrison and three Crosfield partners.
Until the 1890s, Harrisons & Crosfield was just a respected London merchant. By then the two men who were to revolutionize the business had joined: Arthur Lampard in 1881 and Heath Clark in 1885. The first change was that rather than just merchanting, the firm began blending its own tea under the brand “Nectar” and a large export business was developed from Ceylon Wharf on the South Bank. (The Nectar brand was later sold to Twinings). Clark handled the domestic market while Lampard opened offices around the world to handle the export business and to develop local trade. Lampard visited Russia in 1895 to establish a tea trade there and immediately sailed for Ceylon to organize the export of tea to what would prove to be its largest market. He then opened a branch in Columbo under the name of Crosfield Lampard setting Harrisons & Crosfield on the path to what would be its dominant activity for nearly a century: tropical plantations of tea, followed by rubber, timber and palm oil.
Harrison & Crosfield was one of a number of British firms that controlled plantations across south-east Asia through the agency system. The development of a plantation required committing substantial capital for a period of years before the first crops matured. Typically, the agency would provide all the administration, technical, financial and commercial expertise but the capital would be raised externally. Frequently, the capital came from a London Stock Exchange flotation, with the agency acting as secretary. The agency might subscribe for only a few per cent of the capital but it exercised effective control. An indication of the profusion of these quoted plantation companies is that, to take a year at random, there were 79 of them in 1935.
Harrisons & Crosfield handled too many agencies to detail separately. The first venture was the purchase of the small Hopton tea estate in Ceylon; Hopton in turn was one of four estates consolidated into the Lunuva Tea Company in 1907. In India, a Calcutta branch was opened in 1900 promoting the export of tea to North America. Extensive purchases of land were made in southern India leading to the formation of the East India Tea and Produce Company, the Malayalam Rubber and Produce Company and the Meppadi Wynaad Tea Company.
The turn of the century saw the development of the rubber plantation, natural rubber previously being tapped in the wild in South America. The Straits Plantations Ltd (operating in the then Straits Settlements) transferred to the Harrisons & Crosfield agency in 1902 but later companies were formed by Harrisons to buy smaller estates and group them into larger company structures. The Pataling Rubber Estates Syndicate was formed in 1903; Golden Hope Rubber Estate and Anglo-Malay Rubber in 1905; and London Asiatic Rubber and Produce in 1907. In that same year Lampard visited Sumatra and repeated the consolidation process that had taken place in Malaya. Tandjong Rubber Company and United Serdang (Sumatra) Rubber Plantations were both formed and floated. In 1909 holdings in many of the tea and rubber companies were transferred to the Rubber Plantations Investment Trust which was also floated.
In the midst of all its company flotations, Harrisons & Crosfield had its own reorganization. Retirement and withdrawal of capital by partners was a constraint and the expansion of Harrisons trading required more capital. In 1908 the partnership was converted to a company and was floated on the Stock Exchange. However, the public issue was confined to preference shares; the ordinary shares remained with the partners and senior employees. The Company continues to this day as Elementis (Holdings).