British Dyestuffs Corporation

British Dyestuffs Corporation Ltd was a British company formed in 1919 from the merger of British Dyes Ltd with Levinstein Ltd.[1] The British Government was the company's largest shareholder, and had two directors on the board.

Background

By 1913, the Germans had provided 80 percent of the dyes used in Britain. Even the 20% that was produced in the United States was mainly reliant on German intermediates. Stocks of dyes and intermediates were exhausted when World War I broke out in 1914, putting the textile industry in jeopardy.[2]

In July 1915, British Dyes, Ltd., was created and bought Read Holliday & Sons of Huddersfield. In 1919, Levinsteins merged with British Dyes, which became the country's largest dyemaker and was renamed the British Dyestuffs Corporation Ltd.[3]

BDC supplied a comprehensive range of dyes within a competitive market. Its most notable foreign competitors were Allied Dye & Chemical, Du Pont and IG Farben.

It became one of the four British chemical companies which merged in 1926 with Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives and United Alkali Company to form Imperial Chemical Industries.[4]

The company had manufacturing sites at Dalton, Huddersfield, Blackley, Manchester and Ardeer, North Ayrshire.

References
  1. Colorants History
  2. "British Dyestuffs Corporation and ICI". www.colorantshistory.org. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  3. "British Dyes Ltd./British Dyestuffs Corporation Ltd. - ICI Dyestuffs Division and predecessor companies archive - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  4. "British Dyestuffs Corporation Limited | Science Museum Group Collection". collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2021.


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