BX Plastics was a

plastics engineering Plastics engineering encompasses the processing, design, development, and manufacture of plastics products. A plastic is a polymeric material that is in a semi-liquid state, having the property of plasticity and exhibiting flow. Plastics engineer ...

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 Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporary ...

or ivoride) and Lactoid (also known as

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins ( αS1, aS2, β, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of the proteins in hum ...

) at a plant to the south of

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 north of Manningtree, and around southwest of Ipswich. History The name Brantham i ...

in Suffolk, on the north bank of the River Stour across the river from Manningtree in Essex. The company was liquidated in 1999.

History

The British Xylonite Company was established by English inventor

Daniel Spill Daniel Spill (11 February 1832 – 1887) was born in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, England. He became a rubber and an early thermoplastics manufacturer. For over 20 years Spill had pursued the goal of making a successful business from Alexander Pa ...

in 1877, in collaboration with American investor Levi Parsons Merriam. It established factories at

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in east London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets are sometimes a ...

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 was based in

Highams Park Highams Park is a suburban district in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England, near Epping Forest and 8.1 miles (13 km) north-east of Charing Cross. Traditionally a part of Walthamstow parish and municipal borough, it is primarily a ...

, Hale End, in North London and made finished goods (including table tennis balls). Cascelloid, based in Leicester and

Coalville Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...

, made toys and had been acquired in 1931. Cascelloid was later renamed Palitoy and sold to

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

in 1968 and then to

Tonka Tonka is an American producer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes diecast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of ...

1987, which was acquired by

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

in 1991. Distillers acquired a 50% interest in BX Plastics in 1939. Distillers then acquired the rest of the British Xylonite group in 1961, merging it into a 50:50 joint venture with

Union Carbide Union Carbide Corporation is an American chemical corporation wholly owned subsidiary (since February 6, 2001) by Dow Chemical Company. Union Carbide produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers befo ...

'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 British Petroleum in 1978, including the remaining Bakelite Xylonite plants. The Brantham site had been sold in 1966 to

British Industrial Plastics British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, a subsidiary of

Turner & Newall Turner & Newall was a manufacturing business based in Manchester, United Kingdom. At its peak, it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. As part of their business, the company was one of the first ...

, who were in turn acquired

Storey Brothers A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). Th ...

of Lancaster in 1977. The company became

Wardle Storeys Wardle may refer to: Places *Wardle, Greater Manchester, England *Wardle, Cheshire, England People * Arthur Wardle (1864–1949), English painter * David Wardle (born 1959), classicist * Ernie Wardle (born 1930), English footballer * Harry Wardle ...

in 1984. The site finally closed in 2007.

Research

BX Plastics established a research department at Lawford Place, a manor house in nearby

Lawford Lawford is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is approximately northeast from the centre of Colchester and west of, and contiguous with, Manningtree. Mistley merges with the east side of M ...

, south of Manningtree in Essex.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

worked there as a research chemist from 1947 to 1951, before her marriage to

Denis Thatcher Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, (10 May 1915 – 26 June 2003) was an English businessman and the husband of Margaret Thatcher, who served as the first female British prime minister from 1979 to 1990; in turn, he became the first male prime m ...

and subsequent career change to become 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.Former workplace of Baroness Margaret Thatcher converted to exclusive new address on the edge of Constable country
Hopkins Hones, 23 April 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bx Plastics Plastics companies of the United Kingdom