buys the Elberton Sugar Estate and converts it into a lime production plant. The Montserrat Co. Ltd. is formed in Edgbaston by J.& E. Sturge. Lime juice is produced in the city and then exported for use in the manufacture of citric acid. The failure of Sicily's lemon crop at this time results in an opening in the market, which Sturge takes great advantage of utilizing their extensive chemical works based in Edgbaston. He also tries to prove that Free labour can be made profitable (the Sturge family are instrumental in the anti-slavery movement). A company is set up by the Sturge and Albright families who fund the development of Montserrat estates in 1867. 1858: After several failed attempts of launching the steam ship, Isambard Kingdom Brunel turns to Richard Tangye's more powerful hydraulic rams, which are successfully employed in the launch. Richard Tangye's company then acquires the patent of the differential pulley-block in 1859, and in 1862 he invents the Tangye Patent hydraulic jack. This results in the 1862 purchase and demolition of Soho-located Smethwick Hall, on the site of which is built the Cornwall Works. 1867: The patent for a new type of direct-acting steam pump is acquired, in 1869 Tangye Ltd is commissioned to design the hydraulic systems for the UK's first funicular cliff railway in Scarborough, North Yorkshire and in 1870 the company commences the manufacture of steam engines. Richard Tangye and his brother George found the Birmingham Art Gallery in 1885, which today has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, archaeology, ethnography, local history and industrial history. They also found the Birmingham School of Art. 1859: The first ever game of lawn tennis is played in Edgbaston, international tennis is still played at Edgbaston's Priory Club. The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects is invented in 1856 by Alexander Parkes. Many years later, and with the recognition of celluloid as a format for making photographic film, an American court declares Parkes as the true inventor of celluloid. 1862: the thermoplastic Parkesine is showcased at the Great International Exhibition in London. Invented by Alexander Parkes, this celluloid is credited by the London Science Museum to be "generally accepted as the first plastic". (This presumably refers to synthetic plastic formed into objects: it is predated by the 1848 collodion, a nitrocellulose-based solution that dries to a celluloid-like film but