This is a ‘Long Service Award’ for my fathers 20 years service at the ICI. As you can see it is dated the 1st January 1947 making his starting date there as 1926-27. I would think that he would be there probably near the start of the ICI at Billingham.
Image courtesy of Bob Irwin
I have a gold medal for F Pearson for 40 years service date stamp is 1931/1932 any help would be appreciated.
More than likely 9 carat gold so worth about £375.00 scrap today in 2022
My father, Jack Carruthers, worked for ICI until his retirement about 1956 having started sometime in the late 20s, I think. I’ve been trying to find out more exactly, but I can’t find any source of any staff records. Teesside Archives have some but not many. I know he worked as a research technician in a research lab and that the research was concerned with air pollution. But that’s not much to go on!
Clearly Bob’s father started soon after the December 1926 quadruple merger to form ICI. In later years when ICI made long service awards any years someone was employed by Brunner Mond/Synthetic, Nobel, United Alkali and British Dyestuffs counted.
When my father, Len or Tom Sawyer, started at the Billingham plant in 1923 the works belonged to Brunner Mond and was run as Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates Limited. So men talked of working “at the Synthetic”. Then in December 1926, Brunner Mond merged with three other chemical companies, Nobel Explosives, the United Alkali Company and the British Dyestuffs Corporation, to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), who took control of the Billingham plant.
I think that you are correct Bob; ICI appears to have been formed, by the merger of several other Companies, in December 1926.
My dad was there from 1929 until he lost his sight in 1938.
I have my father’s Imperial Chemical Industries Long Service gold wrist watch. Inscribed “Presented to T L Sawyer 30 years service 1953”. So an earlier stage of the developement of the firm I always understood that he was amongst the earliest employees
You get nothing like that these days! After 42 years continious service with ICI, Huntsman and Sabic it was left to Andy Moore’s work colleagues to arrange for a plaque for him. Management even forgot to thank him for not taking any sick leave during that time…