BX Plastics was a plastics engineering and production company. The company was one of three subsidiaries of the British Xylonite Company established by 1938. BX Plastics made xylonite (also known as celluloid or ivoride) and Lactoid (also known as casein ) at a plant to the south of Brantham in Suffolk, on the north bank of the River Stour across the river from Manningtree in Essex. The company was liquidated in 1999.
21-496: The British Xylonite Company was established by English inventor Daniel Spill in 1877, in collaboration with American investor Levi Parsons Merriam. It established factories at Hackney Wick and Homerton , in East London , subsequently expanding to Brooklands Farm near Brantham in 1887 and Hale End , Walthamstow in 1897. By 1938 British Xylonite had established three subsidiaries - BX Plastics, Halex and Cascelloid. Halex
42-553: A long legal battle in America with John Wesley Hyatt and the Celluloid Manufacturing Company for infringement of his patents. The lawsuit which was filed in 1875, was first found in his favour in 1880 even after Parkes testified on behalf of Hyatt, but reversed in 1884. Spill returned to England and in 1887 died of diabetes at the age of 55. He married at the age of 18; his bride was 15. In 1881 Spill
63-491: A rubber and an early thermoplastics manufacturer. For over 20 years Spill had pursued the goal of making a successful business from Alexander Parkes ' invention Parkesine , the first man-made plastic. Although he trained as a doctor he joined the business of his brother George. The firm of George Spill & Co. manufactured waterproof textiles in Stepney Green, East London by spreading rubber onto cloth. The material
84-521: A subsidiary of Turner & Newall , who were in turn acquired Storey Brothers of Lancaster in 1977. The company became Wardle Storeys in 1984. The site finally closed in 2007. BX Plastics established a research department at Lawford Place, a manor house in nearby Lawford , south of Manningtree in Essex. Margaret Thatcher worked there as a research chemist from 1947 to 1951, before her marriage to Denis Thatcher and subsequent career change to become
105-504: A tax barrister and then a politician. The company held several patents on plastic products and manufacturing processes in the 1960s. The house was damaged by a fire and remained unoccupied for many years, but received a Grade II listing in 1980. It was refurbished as part of a residential development in 2009. Daniel Spill Daniel Spill (11 February 1832 – 1887) was born in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire , England. He became
126-475: A variety of recurring charitable events, including an annual Guy Fawkes Night fireworks event. Brantham's parish church of St. Michael and All Angels dates back to the 14th century, although it is believed a religious building has been on the site for over 1,000 years. The church also has connections with Dodnash Priory (founded in 1188). When the priory was dissolved at the time of the Reformation , it
147-594: Is of Old English origin - Brant for 'hill' and ham 'village' — hence, 'village on the hill'. Another possible translation may be 'burnt village', a name given after a Viking invasion coming up from the River Stour. Evidence of the village's Saxon heritage can be found in the form of some ninety silver coins from the time of Edward the Elder (899–924) in what has become known as the Brantham Hoard, found in
168-416: Is one of the earliest dated drawings by Constable of which the whereabouts are now known. The Tudor didactic poet Thomas Tusser settled at Katwade (now Cattawade) and is believed to have written his most famous work A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie at Brantham Hall. The lord of the manor of Brantham in the 15th century was 'shire knight of Suffolk' Sir John Braham (d.1420). The village's oldest pub,
189-508: Is thought that some of the priory's medieval glass was fitted in one of the south-facing nave windows. The church underwent extensive repairs in 2004 after fundraising efforts and a £23,000 grant from the UK National Lottery. St Michael's owns one of only two known religious paintings by John Constable . "Christ blessing the children" was presented to the church by the artist himself in 1805. A reproduction hangs on display in
210-553: The Brantham Bull, is a 16th-century grade 2 listed building. Some of the beams from the building are thought to have come from the wreckage of the Spanish Armada, and over the centuries the building has also been used as a court house and a prison. Witch-finder general Matthew Hopkins once hanged a lady by the name of Nancy on the green outside the front of the building. A passage used by smugglers used to run from
231-592: The Spill brothers and Thomas James Briggs concerning "improvements in the manufacture of driving straps or bands and of flexible tubes or hose" In 1866, the Parkesine Company was established with Daniel Spill as works manager and Parkes as managing director. The Company did not prosper and was wound up in 1868, Spill taking over most of the stock. He formed the Xylonite Company in 1869 to carry on
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#1732797475872252-666: The business but that did not fare much better and was wound up in 1874. Undaunted by these failures, Spill established Daniel Spill & Co. in Homerton , continuing to make Xylonite and Ivoride . This enterprise succeeded in that others entered into an agreement with Spill in 1877 to form the British Xylonite Company in purpose-built premises at Brantham . This company did go on and prosper, going on to employ 1,160 people by 1902 and changed its name to BX Plastics . Spill's later years were largely occupied in
273-687: The church today but the original is kept at the Ipswich Museum . Brantham is generally acknowledged, along with Flatford, Dedham and East Bergholt, to be part of "Constable Country". The artist chose a cottage in the village overlooking the Stour as a subject to one of his sketches 'Fisherman's cottage in Brantham with a view of Mistley Hall' in 1796. The drawing, which is in the V&;A Museum in London,
294-491: The pub's cellar out to the River Stour. Brantham is about half a mile from Manningtree station . A long railway cutting runs past the village. At one point near Brantham Bull, it is the deepest railway cutting in Suffolk. There was once a siding to Marsh Farm, where fresh fruit and vegetables were loaded for London, and a siding going into the old BX Plastics factory (now derelict) for loading and unloading materials. The former
315-482: The rest of the British Xylonite group in 1961, merging it into a 50:50 joint venture with Union Carbide 's Bakelite company in 1962 to form Bakelite Xylonite in 1963. Distillers sold its 50% interest to BP in 1967, and Union Carbide's European interests were acquired by BP in 1978, including the remaining Bakelite Xylonite plants. The Brantham site had been sold in 1966 to British Industrial Plastics ,
336-502: The village in 2003. Brantham is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having 38 households and under the lordship of Aelfric of Weinhou. Until 1887 the local economy was almost entirely agricultural . This changed in 1887 when British Xylonite Ltd. purchased the 130-acre (0.53 km ) Brooklands Farm and built their factory, which was later renamed BX Plastics . There was insufficient accommodation available locally for
357-546: The workforce, so the company also built Brantham New Village, consisting of about 60 new houses. Brantham Leisure Centre is a community-interest company providing venues for football, bowls, netball, cricket, and tennis, plus bar and function facilities. The village's football club, Brantham Athletic , competes in the Premier Division of the Eastern Counties League . Residents participate in
378-672: Was based in Highams Park , Hale End, in North London and made finished goods (including table tennis balls ). Cascelloid, based in Leicester and Coalville , made toys and had been acquired in 1931. Cascelloid was later renamed Palitoy and sold to General Mills in 1968 and then to Tonka 1987, which was acquired by Hasbro in 1991. Distillers acquired a 50% interest in BX Plastics in 1939. Distillers then acquired
399-431: Was disused by the end of the 1930s. The BX siding was active until the early 1960s for coal deliveries. Greater Anglia planned to open a train depot on the site a former Imperial Chemical Industries factory. However the project was put on hold after the council raised concerns about the time that a nearby level crossing would be blocked for. There is a Catholic church (The Holy Family) on Brantham Hill. There
420-591: Was listed as a retired manufacturer in the 1881 census of Leyton High Street, living with his wife and daughter and his nephew George, an India Rubber Manufacturer. Brantham Brantham is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk , England. It is located close to the River Stour and the border with Essex , around 2 miles (3 km) north of Manningtree , and around 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Ipswich . The name Brantham
441-471: Was much in demand for capes and groundsheets for soldiers in the wet conditions of the Crimean War . Spill became aware of Parkes' claim for the waterproof qualities of Parkesine probably at the 1862 exhibition. Negotiations led to an agreement not only to use it for waterproofing but also to develop Parkesine in the works of George Spill at Hackney Wick . A provisional patent was granted in 1863 to
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