James Muspratt

James Muspratt ( born August 12, 1793 in Dublin, † May 4, 1886 in Seaforth Hall, near Liverpool) was a British chemist and industrialist.

Muspratt began in 1822 in Liverpool, the manufacture of prussiate of potash and other preparations, in particular also of sulfuric acid and soda. Here, he had such great success that he was able to create two factories to St. Helens and Newton very soon.

With Charles Tennant in Glasgow he introduced the pyrite in place of sulfur in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. In 1846 he founded at the suggestion of Justus von Liebig, a chemical fertilizer factory, which it soon went down again, but has provided the impetus for the current major fertilizer manufacturing.

Muspratt considered as co-founder of the large-scale chemical industry and especially as the author of Sodafabrikation. Its factories in Liverpool, Widnes and Flint were model institutions and served as a model for many other factories at home and abroad.

His son James Sheridan Muspratt was also a significant chemist. His grandson, Sir Max Muspratt (1872-1934) was a chemist and politician.