Monday, 25 January 2016

Introduction

The "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Club

  January 26th 1870 - March 27th 1871


Dramatis Personae

Walter Angus Watts 

of 7, Kaludah Terrace, Widnes. 

Chemist  John Hutchinson's

Eustace Carey

of 117, Mill Brow, Widnes. 
Partner Gaskell Deacons'

James Liebig Muspratt

of 141, Belvidere Road, Toxteh Park, Liverpool.
3rd Generation Muspratt Lawyer

Henry Brunner

of 118, Cliff House. Mill Brow, Widnes.
Works Manager, Hutchinson's

John Tomlinson Brunner

of 4, Kaludah Terrace, Widnes.
Office Manager, Hutchinson's

Ludwig Mond

of 32, Sea View Row (The Hollies), Widnes.
German Chemical Engineer

James Raven

of 34 Sea View Road (Grammar School House), Widnes.
School master


The Times

"Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Club
January 1870 - March 1871

Franco_Prussian War
July 1870 - May 1871

 

The Town



Widnes, Lancashire
19th Century "Northern Powerhouse"
Leblanc Soda Production since 1823


The "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Club, short in duration, only nineteen meetings between 1870 and 1871, plays an unremarked role in the foundation of one of Britain's largest industries by John Brunner and Ludwig Mond in 1873 on £20,000 borrowed capital. That the meetings took place in the shadow of European turmoil and the Franco-Prussian War is not without interest. The cessation of the war with its unexpected military outcome may have redrawn alliances and sowed the seed for major conflict ahead, but to those meeting in Widnes, it signalled markets re-opening, demand for soda-ash increasing and opportunity to be seized. It is our intention to post and transcribe in full the hand-written minutes of the "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" Club on the days the meetings occurred, and annotate them as an on-going project. Aware that we are not professional historians, we ask for your help and forbearance.

As the Zen master, Shunryu Susuki said,

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few".

We proceed with "Beginner's Mind".

The first transcript will appear January 26th, the second February 4th.
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3 comments:

  1. Paul Meara26 January 2016 at 11:09

    Very interesting, but are you sure about the 1823 date? I recall that one of the Muspratts visited Paris in the afternath of the Franco-Prussian War?? and wrote about it in a book or diary. It was almost a modern variation of a grand tour?

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    Replies
    1. walter26 January 2016 at 19:37

      You're right Paul - the Widnes works came later. James Muspratt left Dublin in 1822, to start his Vauxhall Road Works, Liverpool, producing 'black-ash' from 1823 onwards. Although the chimney at Vauxhall Road was a landmark 225 feet high, Everton, just a mile distant, was at a similar height and it was not long before the first complaints were heard, the start of on-going litigation and moves.

      James's fourth son Edmund, with his wife and his old Heidelberg-friend Sam McCulloch, made the European tour in Spring 1871, when conditions were far from stable. They reached Paris via Heidelberg, Strasburg, Metz and Sedan where the French army had been caught in a trap. German soldiers were everywhere and the old British Passport that "Requests and requires…the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance" must have been effective.

      A fascinating family.

      Delete
  2. Unknown26 January 2016 at 16:30

    Perhaps EK Muspratts's Life and Times?

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