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A bleachfield or bleaching green was an open area used for spreading cloth on the ground to be purified and whitened by the action of the sunlight. [1] Bleaching fields were usually found in and around mill towns in Great Britain and were an integral part of textile manufacture during the British Industrial Revolution .
Charles Tennant's Darnley Bleach Fields c. 1800. He acquired bleaching fields in 1788, at Darnley, in Glasgow, and turned his mind and energy to developing ways to shorten the time required in bleaching. Others had already managed to reduce bleaching time from eighteen months to four by replacing sour milk with sulfuric acid.
Bleaching was a widely distributed finishing trade in Salford, carried over from the earlier woollen industry. In the 18th century, before the introduction of chemical bleaching, bleaching fields were commonplace, some very close to the town. In 1773 there were 25 bleachers around Salford, most to the west of the township.
The waters of this dene (peculiarly soft & clear) are the most celebrated in the north of England for whitening linen cloth. Mr. William Newton's bleach green, situated on this stream at the confluence of the Tyne is known and famed throughout all these northern parts. (Mackenzie 1825).
The English name reflects the historical use of the material for fulling (cleaning and shrinking) wool, by textile workers known as fullers. [1] [2] [3] In past centuries, fullers kneaded fuller's earth and water into woollen cloth to absorb lanolin, oils, and other greasy impurities as part of the cloth finishing process.
Its bleaching action is based on ''destroying the phenolic groups and the carbon–carbon double bonds.''. [6] A major source of chemical bleaching is hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) that contains a single bond, (–O–O–). When the bond breaks, it gives rise to very reactive oxygen specie, which is the active agent of the bleach.
Sykes became a limited liability company in 1892 but management remained in the family including Thomas Sykes' son, Alan, known as Jack.However, there was severe internal competition within the bleaching trade, which discouraged long-term investment, so the business did not develop the technical and scientific knowledge as much as foreign.
The bank had strong patrician antecedents being primarily controlled by the family of Baron Glenconner, i.e. the Tennant family. [2] The firm had its origins in chemical manufacturing when in 1811, Charles Tennant and Co of St Rollox, Glasgow established an associated company, C. Tennant Sons and Co Ltd, as "Bleaching powder manufacturers".