A Short History of Chance & Hunt

Chance & Hunt have always considered their foundation year as 1835, when Chances and Hartleys of Smethwick, soon to become the famous firm of Chance Brothers and Company, glassmakers, bought land in Oldbury, Worcestershire, for making saltcake. They had begun chemical manufacture at Smethwick when analyst Richard Phillips invented a new method of making saltcake. So, to develop the process and to give more space at Smethwick for glassmaking, chemical manufacture was moved over to Oldbury. In fact, the invention never worked well, and making chemicals in bulk had been made on a venture which was to become important, for Oldbury Chemical Works became the largest chemical works in the Midlands. For some 80 years it was linked with Chance Brothers whose glassworks at Smethwick was for many years the largest in Britain. They made the glass for the Crystal Palace erected in Hyde Park in 1851; they introduced into UK the manufacture of sheet glass and optical glass and achieved world fame through their design and construction of lighthouses.

In the early years of Oldbury Works, profits were poor but the works grew and the range of products grew too - sulphuric acid (by the chamber process), saltcake, hydrochloric acid and, amongst others, soda ash by the notorious and widely used Leblanc process. At first, the hydrogen chloride evolved was simply put up chimneys but it caused havoc with the surrounding countryside and people, and soon ash makers had to absorb the gas in water - the first trials were done by putting the gas up a disused windmill filled with brushwood down which water trickled! By 1845 all chemical manufacture was transferred from Smethwick to Oldbury; and by 1852 sal ammoniac and ammonium carbonate were on the product list - the latter being a good seller for years, and claiming in its advertisements to be "world famous".

With the appointment of Alexander Macomb Chance as Managing Director in 1868, the Oldbury Works began a long period of prosperity. He was undoubtedly "the true founder of the business". He has always been held in the highest esteem for his generosity and sincerity and for his many benefactions no less than for his ability and energy and for his guidance of the technicalities of business. He was responsible for many initiatives of a humanitarian kind in the lives of employees and others in the Oldbury area; schools, libraries and houses for workpeople were built, as also was a Working Men's Club and premises for church work. To help discourage drunkenness and the social disruption it caused, Alexander Chance became an "abstainer from strong drink" himself! He headed the business for 44 years. His greatest contribution to chemical technology was as a co-patentee, with J.F. Chance in 1887, of a process for recovering sulphur from the "vat waste" of the Leblanc process.

It was this waste which produced a foul "rotten-egg" smell wherever it was tipped, and for years chemists had been seeking a means of recovering the sulphur from it - for economic reasons as well as to eliminate the smell problem. The discovery helped the ailing economics of Leblanc ash production, by then in competition with Brunner, Mond's more elegant, clean and economic ammonia soda process used at Winnington. Soon practically all the many Leblanc alkali works in Britain and Europe were using it.

In 1890 the Oldbury section of Chance Bros. was converted into a private limited liability company in the name of The Oldbury Alkali Company Limited; and in 1898 it amalgamated with another similar firm of long standing, Wm. Hunt and Sons of Wednesbury, to become Chance & Hunt Limited under Alexander M. Chance's chairmanship. Oldbury and Wednesbury worked together for many years producing acids, saltcake, caustic soda, soda ash, ammonia compounds etc, and later on, Oldbury added copper, zinc and cadmium compounds and cement to its list. With the First World War came the manufacture of TNT and ammonium nitrate and the speed with which the TNT plant was built has always been a source of pride with Chance & Hunt. One million bricks were laid in 19 days and TNT was being despatched 14 weeks after the first sod was cut! In 1917, Brunner, Mond acquired a controlling interest and the Leblanc process was shut down.

In 1926, on the formation of ICI, Oldbury Works became part of the of the General Chemicals Group - as also did Wednesbury Works. A Heat treatment Department was added to Oldbury in 1928 to exploit the case-hardening of metals by immersion in molten cyanide baths. In 1939 Chance & Hunt became a department of ICI Mond Division and lost the "Limited" tag. Chemical manufacture practically came to an end in 1964 when most of the site was requisitioned for the building of the M5 motorway. The remainder of the site became the Oldbury Depot, acting as a packing, formulation and distribution centre. Meanwhile Chance Bros. and Company of Smethwick, glassmakers, which had spawned Chance & Hunt, passed into the ownership of Pilkingtons of St. Helens.

In 1910 an office was opened in London for handling the sale of the firm's products in Southern England and for merchanting chemicals in general. The office was at first in Fenchurch Street, then in 1916 in Gracechurch Street, and in 1923 at St. Helen's Place. When the office became part of ICI in 1926, the sale of products made at Oldbury was switched to ICI Sales Offices, but the London office of Chance & Hunt was allowed to continue a separate existence as a merchanting house dealing in materials not made in ICI. It stayed at St. Helen's Place from 1923 to 1975 when it moved to Rutland House in Runcorn. In 1985, Chance & Hunt moved into its own building in Runcorn, aptly named Alexander House in honour of its most distinguished leader.

In the early days of the London office the chief non-ICI products were American sulphur and carbon black which formed some 60% of the turnover. Over the years their importance declined and the present-day Chance & Hunt has a much wider portfolio of some 600 products which are sold in the UK and in 120 overseas markets. Interestingly, one of the principal products today is sodium sulphate, the manufacture of which was a key process in the early days of Oldbury Works.

In April 1999 Chance & Hunt once again became Chance & Hunt Limited, following a management buy-out from ICI and in July 2002 joined the pan-European Azelis group of companies.

Chance & Hunt Pensioners Remember

We invited some Chance & Hunt pensioners to give us some of their reminiscences of the 'old' days - with some interesting results. Most had begun work with ICI in the early 30's, or earlier as had Ronnie Driver (1928) and Chris Mobbs (1929). One of the features of C&H is the almost universal use of christian names amongst its people, extending backwards over the years further than in most similar enterprises - a sign, no doubt of the close personal links and good camaraderie so many of the eight people approached have referred to. Most of the men, like Stan Percival and those already named, started right at the bottom of the ladder, as "messenger boys" doing all manner of odd jobs, some at Millbank and some, like Ronnie Driver, at C&H at St. Helen's Place.

A move from Millbank to St. Helen's presented a contrast, for more than one speaks of the Dickensian atmosphere at C&H contrasted with the palatial spaciousness of the then new Millbank. But the view is generally that working in C&H gave opportunity for a beginner to learn about how the commercial world ticks which was second to none. To quote: "...at C&H you could see within a small compass all aspects of running a business and I realised that of all the places in ICI, C&H offered exceptional training..." and again "...there is a unique working climate...where you can get involved in buying, selling, imports, exports, UK and foreign trade, currency and accounting...". It was also interesting how many of the schoolboy starters graduated from messengers into Ormig operators before being entrusted with more weighty matters, and all remember the all-pervading bright violet ink used in making the copies in this now long outdated system for doing the office work, for it not only got where it was supposed to get, but somehow make its mark on all who worked in the Ormig room.

The narratives of the War years have their amusing as well as their sad side, for although St. Helen's Place in the City was kept going, most of the staff and business moved to Chester Court, Mill Hill, on the northern outskirts of London. The mail room was the top of the Bechstein grand piano. The Ormig section took over the kitchen and the Accounts Department occupied the main bedroom. But "everyone managed" - which was true to the atmosphere of the times. Chester Court is best remembered by some for its frigidity in winter, for the ancient wiring prohibited all but small electric fires! Val Saunders, wife of "Bosun" Saunders, who started her service at Chester Court remembers the rambling house with a large garden and a very small gardener whose efforts to control a motor mower provided much amusement for the girls watching from the "office" windows! - from where too they could watch the aerial dog fights over London, for Chester Court was at the top of a hill. Going back to pre-War days Val's sister, Hilda Fackrell who began in 1932 as a shorthand typist at £2.30 per week remembers especially the noise of their eight typewriters at St. Helen's Place on a Saturday morning when you "had to pound away like mad" to get away from work on time. Hours of work were then generally from 9 am to 6 pm unless, as sometimes happened, the letters weren't signed and you had to stay until all were done and posted come what may. Sometimes you were around until 9 pm and no overtime pay!

All who were involved at the time remember Edgar P. Chance, son of Alexander Macomb Chance, who managed the business between the Wars. He was one of the old time authoritarian school of managers. He became famous as an expert on birds' eggs and had one of the best collections in the country, which he occasionally exhibited in a marquee on his lawn. He acquired international fame for his extensive and careful researches into the egg-laying peculiarities of the Cuckoo and became known as "Cuckoo Chance". He had difficulty in getting along with his secretaries who came and went until "Bosun" Saunders was given the job and he proved to be "EP"s last secretary, "efficient and unflappable"; the two men had a certain rapport and "Bosun" was given the task of ordering the Perambulator, it is said, for baby "Cardamine" (the latin name for "cuckoo flower")!

Many of the messenger boys climbed a long way up the promotion ladder. Ronnie Driver left C&H in 1936 and eventually became Division Director responsible for the product group which embraced C&H - providing an opportunity to be helpful in repayment of a debt he had always acknowledged. Many remember particular heroes; Stan Ellerm, General Manager was much liked. Some refer warmly to RAF Anderson's contributions when he arrived as Deputy Manager soon after the war with a more open style of management and with everyone encouraged to feel involved in the business; and to quote, "each subsequent manager has built on this and added something of his own philosophy". Many refer to the worrying days when the earlier mainstay business of American Sulphur and Carbon Black was withering away and new business and sources of income just had to be found. Jimmy Phipps is credited with masterminding the changes which, fortunately, were successful. But in spite of individual contributions to success there is a widespread view that C&H is an organisation which has thrived on teamwork. Chris Mobbs (in C&H from 1930-1975) says that, though he is biased, he's sure that C&H was and still is an outstandingly happy and successful company. "I regard myself" he concludes, "as very fortunate to have spent most of my working days with them."