Scottish shale Scottish shale

Bituminous Shale Co.

Started:
August 1848
Finished:
Liquidated 1852, Interests of the company taken forward by the Shale Manure & Naptha Co.
Registered office:

145 Upper Thames St. London

Oil works:

An ambitious and pioneering business enterprise, established in 1848 under act of parliament by a group of London businessmen, and seemingly inspired by the French shale oil industry. Possible links existed with John Braithwaite's Weymouth works.

The company worked shale on John Clavell Mansell's Kimmeridge estate and processed this at their new Wareham oil works. The chemical manure manufactured by the company was widely advertised, however their oil products appear to have found only a limited market.

The company soon ran into financial difficulties. Notice was given in November 1851 of the intention to raise new capital through transfer of the business to the "New Bituminous Shale Company". It appears that this new entity was titled the "Shale Manure & Naptha" when incorportated by act of parliament in 1852.

Directors

  • H. B. Raymond Barker, Esq. 4, Garden Court, Temple.
  • Horace Green, Esq. Clapton Square.
  • J Edwin Pettitt, Esq. 5, Ufton Grove, Kingsland. - a civil engineer and chemist
  • G. S. Pickering, Esq. Clapham, Surrey.
  • William Percival Pickering, Esq.. Lincoln's Inn Fields - a stock and share broker
  • Arthur Beecher Pollock, Esq. 1, Elm Court, Temple.
  • Albert Ricardo, Esq. 3. Charles Street, Lowndes Square.

  • Newspaper references
    • SHALE MANURE.

      THE Bituminous Shale Company, of Wareham, Dorset, beg to inform the Public, that the Manure they Manufacture is now Sale. The Directors of the Company can strongly recommend this Manure for Green and Root Crops, and for Heavy Land; and it has been found to most successful where drilled in with the seed.

      The Silurian, Cardiff and Brecon Mercury, 12th October 1850

      .......

      Bituminous Shale Company.

      NOTICE is hereby given, that application is intended to be made to Parliament in the next session for leave to bring in a Bill, for the incorporation of a Company, to be called the New Bituminous Shale Company, with all such power as may be necessary for the purpose of extracting, distilling, or manufacturing from a certain material or substance, called or known as Schistus or Bituminous Shale, Blackstone Kimmeridge coal, or any earth, clay, mineral, or other like substance, certain oils, pitch, and gaseous unctions, carbonaceous and other products, and to sell and dispose of the same; and in the event of the incorporation of the said Company as aforesaid, for the execution of the works and matters as aforesaid, it is further intended in the said Bill, to authorize a certain Company, called the Bituminous Shale Company, to sell all their right, title, and interest in certain works, patents, buildings, machinery, stores, leases, contracts, and other property, whatsoever and wheresoever, and to enable the said New Bituminous Shale Company to purchase the same upon such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the said Companies. Dated this thirteenth day of November one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. Harry S. Styan, Lincoln's-inn, Solicitor to the said company.

      The London Gazette, 21st November 1851

      .......

      Bituminous Shale Company. 145, Upper Thames-Street, London, April 23rd, 1852. is to give notice, that unless the calls due on the 26th day of December 1849, the 26th day of March 1850, the 1st day of May 1850, and the 1st day of July 1851, on the 10 shares held by Mr. E. F. Brown, late of Springfield, Chelmsford, in this Company, with interest thereon from the said days, at 5 per cent, be paid on or before the 24th day of May next, the said shares will be forfeited. By order of the Board, Algernon M. Pollock, Secretary. Bituminous Shale Company. 145, Upper Thames-Street, London, April 23rd, 1852. THIS is to give notice, that unless the call due on the 1st day of July 1851, on the 10 shares held by Mr. G-. P. Bevan, late of No. 15, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, in this Company, with interest thereon from the said date, at 5 per cent, be paid on or before the 24th day of May next, the said shares will be forfeited. By order of the Board, Algernon M. Pollock, Secretary

      The London Gazette, 27th April 1852

      .......

      Bituminous Shale Company.

      TAKE Notice, that at an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders of the Bituminous Shale Company, held on Tuesday the 14th day of December, 1852, it was unanimously resolved:

      That it having appeared on investigation of the affairs of the Company, that the liabilities of the Company exceed the value of the property, funds, and assets, by more than five hundred pounds, the Bituminous Shale Company be forthwith dissolved, and that immediate steps be taken for the winding up, liquidating, and settling the affairs of the Company.

      And that at another Extraordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders of the Bituminous Shale Company, held on the 13th day of January, 1853, it was unanimously resolved: "That the before-mentioned Resolution be confirmed".

      The London Gazette, 11th March 1853

      .......

      Vice-Chancellor Stuart. Saturday, the 11th day of March, in the seventeenth year of. the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, 1854 ; in the Matter of the Joint Stock Companies'. Winding-up' Acts, 1848, and 1849, and the Bituminous Shale Company. UPON the petition of Horace Green, on the 3rd day of February, 1854, preferred unto the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and upon hearing Counsel for the petitioner, and for Edwin Pettitt, Arthur Beecher Pollock and Albert Ricardo, contributories of the. said company; and, upon reading the said petition, an affidavit of. the petitioner subscribed at the foot thereof, an affidavit of Harvey Smith Styan, and the exhibit therein referred to, the London Gazette of the 10th day of February, 1854, the Times newspaper, of the 9th February, 1854, and the Daily News of the 8th day of February, 1854, respectively containing an advertisement of the said petition, an affidavit of service of the 13th day of February, 1854, of the said petition on Arthur Beecher Pollock, a Member of the said Company, and that no office of the said Company can be found, and what was alleged by the Counsel for the petitioner, and for the said Edwin Pettitt, Arthur Beecher Pollock and Albert Ricardo. This court doth order that the said Bituminous Shale Company be absolutely dissolved, as from this day, and wound up by the Judge of this Court, to whom this matter is attached, under the provisions of the Joint Stock Companies Winding-up Acts 1848 and 1849.

      The London Gazette, 21st March 1854


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