Harrisons and Crosfield
of Temple St, Liverpool
1844 Established by Daniel Harrison, Joseph Crosfield and Smith Harrison.
1854 The partnership moved to 3 Great Tower Street, London
1860s Was one of the largest tea traders in Britain.
1890s the company admitted a number of new partners (Charles Heath Clark, George Croll, Arthur Lampard and Eric Miller) and changed the direction of its business. The company took on the blending and packing of teas, and imports from Ceylon were stored in a warehouse on Ceylon Wharf, Bankside in Southwark.
1908 The firm became a limited company under the style Harrisons and Crosfield Limited.
1916 Disposed of most of the company's interest in tea on the formation of Twining, Crosfield and Co Limited.
Mid-20th century: The company was also increasingly involved in rubber and plantation estates, and acquired shareholdings, often acting as agents and secretaries, in a number of plantation companies.
From 1950s, growing interests in palm oil, speciality chemicals and other estates agency work, including the related business from insurance and shipping.
From the late 1960s there was a consolidation of interests - the Harcro group of timber merchants and building suppliers, chemicals, animal feeds and other agricultural products.
Most of its interests in individual plantation companies were merged into larger companies (e.g. London Sumatra Plantations) and those companies subsequently sold.
1973 Acquired the chrome businesses of Albright and Wilson with plants at Eaglescliffe and a small unit in Canada[1]
1982 The firm became a public limited company
1988 Acquired Southerns-Evans, timber importers, from Magnet and Southerns[2]
By the late 20th century, Harrisons and Crosfield managed nearly half a million acres of tropical crops in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Southern India, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Also had interests in timber (through its stake in British Borneo Timber Limited, later called Sabah Timber Company)
1997 The firm started to dispose of its timber and building supplies businesses, and food and agriculture divisions, including the flavourings companies Felton and Glentham, to concentrate on speciality chemicals, particularly chrome where it had 30 percent of the market[3].
1997 Sold the Harcros building merchants chain to Meyer International[4]
1998 The firm was renamed as Elementis Plc.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Aim25 [1]