ICI Exhibition Booklet - Flipbook - Page 6
Formation of ICI, 1926
‘In the face of IG (Farben), newly reconstructed with even greater power, could any British
chemical company stand alone?’
– Dr Reader, ICI Historian
Post-WWI Britain saw a decline in economic pre-eminence, mass unemployment and deflation. The war had accelerated
chemical technology across Britain, America, and Germany – but Germany dominated with its organisation and long standing
investment in scientific research. By 1926, Germany had centralised its chemical businesses to form IG Farben, a combination
of dyestuff, heavy chemicals, and explosives companies, threatening a monopoly of the chemical markets. Britain and America
either had to form an alliance with IG or a defensive pact against it.
Plotting and intrigue
By September 1926, urgent talks were taking place in New York between leading members of the British, American, and
German chemical industries, including Sir Alfred Mond of Brunner, Mond & Co – Britain’s leading alkali manufacturer –
and Sir Harry McGowan of Nobel Industries Ltd – the British arm of the international explosives business.
McGowan intercepted a potential British alliance with IG Farben, persuading Mond
to a merger between the four leading British chemical companies:
Brunner, Mond
Nobel Industries
British Dyestuffs Corporation
United Alkali Company (yet to be consulted).
Formed at Sea
Mond and McGowan left for Britain on the RMS Aquitania, 6 October 1926. During the six day passage, Imperial Chemical
Industries Ltd was born.
The Aquitania Agreement, written on four sheets of the ship’s stationary, detailed the proposed amalgamation. On 21
October 1926, with United Alkali’s consent, the four companies publicly announced their intention to merge and by 1 January
1927 ICI was ready for business.
SCI was formed in 1881 as the Society of Chemical Industry.
Its founders were Scientists, Inventors, and Entrepreneurs with a common
interest in applying science into industry.
From inception, SCI’s principal objective has been to further the application of
chemistry and related sciences into industry for the public benefit.
ICI founders were part of SCI’s founders, with both Ludwig Mond and his son
Alfred going on to be SCI presidents in 1888 and 1930, respectively. Sir Alfred
Mond (Lord Melchett, enobled May 1928) was succeed both as ICI Chairman and
SCI president by Sir Harry McGowan, 1931.