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William Gossage (12 May 1799 – 9 April 1877) was a chemical manufacturer who established a business making soap in Widnes, Lancashire, England in the 19th century.

William Gossage was born in Burgh-le-Marsh, Lincolnshire to Thomas and Eleanor Gossage and was the youngest of 13 children. At the age of 12 he went to work as an apprentice to his uncle, who was a chemist and druggist in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. During this time he taught himself chemistry and French.^[1]

At the age of 24 he took out his first patent which was a portable alarm to attach to clocks and watches. After working for a time as manager at Ardwick Bridge in a factory owned by the Tennant Company,^[1] he set up his own business in Leamington trading in medicinal salts.^[2] In about 1830 he went into partnership with a Mr. Farndon making alkali at The British Alkali Works at Stoke Prior, Worcestershire.^[3] During this time Gossage experimented with a method of absorbing hydrochloric acid gas which was released as a result of the Leblanc process of manufacturing alkali. He filled a derelict windmill with gorse and brushwood, then introduced the gas and water at the top of the top found that little or no fumes appeared at the bottom.^[4]This he was to develop into the Gossage tower.^[1]

From 1841 to 1844 Gossage was in Birmingham manufacturing white lead and from 1844 to 1848 he was in Neath, South Wales, experimenting with copper smelting.^[1] He returned to Stoke Prior in 1848 and in 1850 he moved to Widnes. He he established an alkali works on the opposite side of the Sankey Canal from Hutchinson's No 1 factory. and after experimenting with a method of extracting sulphur from copper ores, worked on the manufacture of alkali. In 1855 he set up his own soap works, eventually in 1857 making mottled soap which sold successfully under the brand name of Gossage.^[1]

Gossage married Mary Herbert of Leamington in 1824. They had seven children. Two of their sons, Alfred and Frederick continued in the family business after Wiliam's death. This occurred in 1877 at his home in Dunham Massey, which was then in the county of Cheshire. His estate amounted to under £160,000.^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Frank Greenaway, ‘Gossage, William (1799–1877)’, rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1], accessed 8 July 2007
^ Hardie, p34
^ Hardie, p35
^ Hardie, pp17–18

References

Hardie, D.W.P. A History of the Chemical Industry of Widnes, Imperial Chemical Industries, 1950.

[dnb-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Frank Greenaway, ‘Gossage, William (1799–1877)’, rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [1], accessed 8 July 2007

[2] Hardie, p34

[3] Hardie, p35

[4] Hardie, pp17–18

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