Charles Esau Eastick (29 August 1860 – 8 October 1947) was a British chemist, noted for formulating

golden syrup Golden syrup or light treacle is a thick, amber-coloured form of inverted sugar syrup made by the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance and co ...

and

patenting A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

special methods for making brewers'

saccharum ''Saccharum'' is a genus of tall perennial plants of the broomsedge tribe within the grass family. The genus is widespread across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions in Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and assorted ocean ...

and

inverted sugar Inverted sugar syrup is a syrup mixture of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, made by splitting disaccharide sucrose. This mixture's optical rotation is opposite to that of the original sugar, which is why it is called an ''invert'' sug ...

Early life and education

Charles Eastick was born in the seaport of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

and was the fourth son of Zechariah and Sarah Eastick. His father was one of the first

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

chemists A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

and manager of Southtown gas works and afterwards at

Peel, Isle of Man Peel ( 'port of the Island') is a seaside town and small fishing port in the Isle of Man, in the historic parish of German (parish), German but administered separately. Peel is the third largest town in the Island after Douglas, Isle of Man, Do ...

. When the family moved to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, he followed his elder brother John Joseph in the systematic study of science at

Owen's College The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Af ...

, followed by the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

. He specialised in the technical utilisation of scientific results rather than engaging in

theoretical A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

research.

Marriages and children

In 1888, he married Elvina Duling, daughter of William Duling, and the couple had one daughter and two sons: Frederick Charles Eastick, Melita Florence Eastick and Douglas Martineau Eastick.

Sugar refining

In 1880, excited by sugar's recent rise into the ubiquity of British life, Charles together with his two brothers (also chemists) John Joseph and Samuel began a sugar

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

and consulting practice in Trinity Square in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. In 1881

Abram Lyle Abram Lyle (14 December 1820 – 30 April 1891) was a Scottish food manufacturer and politician, who is noted for founding the sugar refiners '' Abram Lyle & Sons'' in 1887, which merged with the company of his rival Henry Tate to become Tate ...

together with his three sons bought two

wharves A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths ( ...

in Plaistow,

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

to construct a

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

for making

syrup In cooking, syrup (less commonly sirup; from ; , beverage, wine and ) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a Solution (chemistry), solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars but ...

. Impressed by the Eastick brothers' ground-breaking work, Abram Lyle invited the brothers to set up a laboratory at the new Plaistow Wharf refinery, where John Joseph became the first

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

at Lyle's, ably assisted by his brother Charles. Initially the analysis of

raw sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by ...

was established for the purpose of establishing price and duty payments, however in 1883 tough times importing cargoes of sugar bring production to a near-halt, so Charles and John Joseph

experimented An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

with the refining process, of the bitter molasses-brown treacle-hitherto a waste by-product of sugar refining-into an eminently palatable syrup with the viscosity, hue and sweetness of honey, leading to Charles formulating the first version of the world's oldest branded product,

. Under the leadership of his elder brother John Joseph the two brothers formulated the special methods of making brewers'

and

. By 1890 John Joseph was succeeded at Lyle's by his brother-in-law Lawrence John De Whalley, who went on to perfect many improvements in the

process and control at Lyle's refinery. Meanwhile, John Joseph went to the Australian sugar refinery in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

(and subsequently

Bundaberg, Queensland Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situated along the southern bank of the Burnett ...

), and Charles left Lyle's to run London's second largest sugar refinery, Martineaus in

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

. During the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Charles assumed a national role, being responsible for administering the UK wartime sugar

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution (marketing), distribution of scarcity, scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resourc ...

quotas, for which he was awarded an MBE in the

1918 Birthday Honours The 1918 Birthday Honours were appointments by King George V to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to ...

. On his brother's return from Australia, Charles and John Joseph continued the analysis and consulting of sugar through the Newland Brothers practice in Dunstan Hill (inherited from John Joseph's father-in-law) and together with their brother Samuel, formulated 11 sugar refining related

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

between 1880 and 1919. During the 1920s, only small amounts of specialised sugars were being imported to Britain as it was not economic for the larger refineries to manufacture these, so Charles saw an opportunity to manufacture brewers'

and

for brewers,

bakers A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

and confectioners, which led him to establish a specialist factory Ragus Sugars in West London on the new

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

trading estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office park, ...

. At the Martineaus refinery Charles was joined by his eldest son Fredrick as managing director and later by his eldest grandson Bernard, who became production director until a year after the business was sold to Manbre and Garton in 1961. Charles' youngest son Douglas took over the running of the Ragus operation, but when he joined the RAF during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Charles came out of retirement and had time for one last

invention An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...

, "Golden Shower" crystallised golden syrup. This was sold in grocery shops as a replacement for

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

. Charles died two years after the end of the war and in the 1950s Ragus passed to Charles' youngest grandsons Ronald and Barry, and the company today continues to be run by Charles' great-grandsons, Peter, James and Benjamin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastick, Charles British chemists Members of the Order of the British Empire 1860 births 1947 deaths People from Great Yarmouth Fellows of the Chemical Society