Draft:Lawrence John de Whalley

Lawrence John de Whalley
Born	11 May 1853 Over Darwen, Lancashire, England
Died	9 Jan 1937 (aged 83) Orpington, Kent, England
Education	Royal School of Mines (BSc Hons)
Occupation	Chemist
Employer	Abram Lyle & Sons
Known for	Refinements to Sugar and Syrup production methods

Lawrence John de Whalley (11 May 1853 – 9 January 1937) was a British chemist, noted for improvements in sugar refining, filtration and the manufacture of Golden Syrup. He was originator of tests including the iron test for sugar liquors and the sulphide stain method for sulphites.

Early life and education

Lawrence John de Whalley was born on 11 May 1853 at Lower Darwen, near Blackburn in Lancashire, England. He was the first child of John Whalley and Jane (née Carlisle). His academic background and life is detailed in The Analyst, July 1937. In 1874 he won a Royal Exhibition for a three year degree at the Royal School of Mines, London (which later became the Royal School of Chemistry). He attended lectures of Frankland, Guthrie and Huxley and was trained in practical chemistry by Valentin (William George Valentin F.C.S.).

Marriage, home and children

Lawrence John married Annie Maria Eastick, daughter of Thomas Zachariah Eastick and Sarah Maria Susannah Kelf. The marriage was on 17 July 1882. By this time, Lawrence John knew the Eastick family through his work with John Joseph Eastick. He is recorded as living in London at several addresses, including Clapham (1881), Lewisham (1882, locally to the Eastick family), Hammersmith (1884) and Greenwich (1891), Lewisham (1911, Chislehurst (1935) and Orpington (1937). Lawrence John and Annie Maria had twelve children:

• Charlotte Beatrice Zoe Whalley(1882–1969)
• Hermes George Lawrence de Whalley(1884–1940)
• Aileen Jane de Whalley(1886–1967)
• William Robert Murad De Whalley(1888–1940)
• John Joseph Arthur De Whalley(1891–1973)
• Hubert Charles Siegfried de Whalley(1892–1964)
• Olga Mary Alice DeWhalley(1894–1957)
• Annie Julia Constance de Whalley(1896–1976)
• Margarita Thyra de Whalley(1898–1961)
• Horace Herbert Lewis De Whalley(1900–1967)
• Enid Sybil Inez De Whalley(1903–1991)
• Doris Greta Ada De Whalley(1905–1984)

The photograph in the Info box on this article is an extract from a family group photograph on 13 August 1914.

Organisations

• Physical Society, Original member (1874; note connections via Guthrie. Meetings usually at Imperial College, London).
• Chemical Club (London), One of the founders. Note this is not the same Chemical Club as earlier / later organisations of the same name.
• Society of Chemical Industry, Original member from 1881. Presented a commemoration plaque to de Whalley at the jubilee meeting in 1932.
• Institute of Chemists, Fellow from 1911. Note connection via Frankland.
• Freemasons, United (held Grand Lodge of England rank Grand Elected Knight)
• Society of Public Analysts

Early Career: Teaching and Industrial Chemistry

On graduation, de Whalley became an assistant to Frankland and also worked as a private tutor. A specialism was paper manufacture<ref name="Kentish"> and this interest chimes with family paper making specialists in his home town of Whalley, Lancashire. He was appointed as a chemistry lecturer at Whitgift School and later continued as examiner in chemistry. In 1889, de Whalley was appointed chief chemist at a tar works at East Greenwich where he devised what afterwards developed into the first continuous still. In an obituary this was noted to be still (sic) in operation and was credited as a precursor of such oil stills worldwide.

Sugar refining and food chemistry

In 1890, de Whalley succeeded his brother-in-law J. J. Eastick as chief chemist to Messrs. A. Lyle & Sons (later Tate & Lyle Ltd), sugar refiners at Plaistow Warf, Victoria Docks, London, where he remained for the rest of his career.

de Whalley became an authority on sugar refining, and although most of his work was unpublished, he inaugurated and perfected many improvements in refinery processes and control. In his industry he was a pioneer in the use of kieselguhr for sugar filtration, and was probably the first to associate microscopic structure of the diatoms with rate of filtration. He was responsible for the introduction of affination at Plaistow Wharf, and made many improvements in the manufacture of golden syrup. He took part in international conferences on sugar analysis and was Chairman at the Conference of Sugar Chemists (the Raffinose Conference) in 1910, in Berlin, when he contributed work on raffinose in beet sugars. During the First World War he was a representative at the Royal Commission on Sugar Supply.

Upon retirement in 1930, a grand presentation was made. He remained engaged in the field of sugar industry research and knowledge sharing, particularly through his children. He attended the opening meeting of the 1936 International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis.

Name change

In 1882, daughter Zoe was recorded with surname Whalley. In 1884, son Hermes was recorded with surname de Whalley. From 1884, the surname de Whalley was consistently used. The surname de Whalley had been used by others in the location of Whalley, near Blackburn, Lancashire from the Norman era.

References

Category:1853 births Category:1937 deaths Category:British chemists