September 2012 and following the full closure of the plant in 2013. Oldbury Division In 1888 a patent was granted to four people from Wolverhampton covering the use of an electric furnace to produce white phosphorus from phosphate rock; and in 1890 they set up a works at Wednesfield to produce phosphorus. Albright and Wilson bought the patent and the works; and ran it for two years whilst they built their own furnace at Oldbury. The Wednesfield works was then closed down. White phosphorus continued in production at Oldbury until 1972 when production was moved to Newfoundland. Bulk liquid white phosphorus was then transferred by special bulk tanker ship back to Portishead, Somerset. Unfortunately the move to Newfoundland had been inadequately planned and the Company encountered serious production problems with its new giant electric furnaces – several times larger than the Oldbury machines – and with the availability of skilled local labour. These problems contributed to the company's poor financial performance and precipitated the take-over by Tenneco. Marchon Division In 1955 Albright and Wilson purchased Marchon Products Ltd based in Whitehaven, which produced phosphorus-based detergents by the "wet" process. The A&W Group now controlled production of phosphorus compounds by both important manufacturing routes. However, the phosphate detergent business, which was the bread-and-butter market for Marchon, ran into terminal decline in the late 1970s as the eutrophication of inland waterways by pollution from detergent phosphate residues pressed the detergent formulators to move away from phosphates, thus removing Marchon's prime product application area. The name "Marchon" ended when the French company, Rhodia, took over Albright and Wilson in 1999. The site closed down in 2005 and was demolished between 2007 and 2012. References Notes Sources Beaver, Patrick (1985). The Match Makers. London: Henry Melland Limited. . Morris, Peter J.T. and Russell, Colin A. (1988). Archives of the British Chemical Industry: 1750 – 1914. Stanford: British Society for the History of Science. (BSHS Monograph 6). . Podger, Hugh (2002). Albright & Wilson; the Last 50 Years. Studley: Brewin Books. . Threlfall, Richard E. (1952). The Story of 100 Years of Phosphorus Making: 1851 – 1951. Oldbury: Albright & Wilson Ltd. External links A picture gallery (hosted by Flickr.com) showing Marchon, from a working site to final demolition https://www.flickr.com/photos/horrgakx/collections/72157600295435668/ Albright & Wilson papers at Cumbria Record Office. Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Chemical companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in