Samuel Garbett was already refining gold and silver on Steelhouse Lane when he joined forces with Dr John Roebuck, who set up a laboratory and refinery there. The firm advised Birmingham manufacturers on chemistry and, in 1746, began making sulphuric acid in lead chambers instead of glass globes, cutting its cost to about a quarter.
In 1749 the partners opened a much larger acid works at Prestonpans, east of Edinburgh, to supply Scotland’s linen bleachers. They relied on secrecy rather than a patent; the method leaked to English rivals by 1756, and their later attempt to enforce a Scottish patent failed in the Court of Session and the House of Lords (1774).
The same partners founded the Carron Company in 1759. Roebuck’s ruin in 1773 forced him to withdraw his capital from Prestonpans, Carron and the Birmingham refinery, and Garbett’s own bankruptcy followed in 1782.
On the map
One place connected with Roebuck & Garbett. Tap a number for directions — some sites are private homes or gardens, so each place’s page says what you can see from the street.
- Roebuck and Garbett’s laboratory and refinery, Steelhouse Lane — Lost, Site redeveloped
Key dates
- 1746 — Roebuck and Garbett make sulphuric acid in lead chambersAt their Steelhouse Lane refinery, John Roebuck and Samuel Garbett begin making sulphuric acid on a large scale in chambers of lead instead of glass globes. The unpatented process cuts the cost of the acid to about a quarter and moves to a bigger works at Prestonpans in 1749.
Sources and further reading
- Roebuck, John (1718–1794) — Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 49 — Francis Espinasse, Smith, Elder & Co., 1897
- Economic and Social History: Industry and Trade, 1500–1880, in A History of the County of Warwick, vol. 7, pp. 81–139 — W. B. Stephens (ed.), Victoria County History, 1964
