British Dyestuffs Corp Ltd

Notes:

Traced origins to British Dyes Ltd set up by the British government in 1915 under wartime conditions and the urgent need to boost UK production on account of the cutting off of supplies from Germany. Formed to acquired Read, Holliday & Sons Ltd of Huddersfield, important manufacturers of chemicals for dye making in which the UK government took a substantial shareholding. British Dyes Ltd was generally unsuccessful and merged in 1919 with Levinstein Ltd to form British Dyestuffs Corp Ltd in which the British government retained an interest. This merger was a step by the government to create a viable and significant indigenous dyestuffs industry. Lord Moulton was an architect of both British Dyes and British Dyestuffs, being first chairman of the latter; he was largely responsible for the development of important R&D functions at both entities This merged in 1926 with Brunner, Mond & Co Ltd, Nobel's Explosives Co Ltd and United Alkali Co Ltd to form Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd [later ICI Ltd]