United Alkali was formed on 1 November 1890 when 48 chemical companies from the Tyne, Scotland, Ireland and Lancashire were merged. These included Newcastle Chemical Works, Allhusen, Gateshead; Atlas Chemical of Widnes; Henry Baxter of St Helens; Gaskell, Deacon of Widnes; Globe Alkali of St Helens; Golding-Davis of Widnes; Irvine Chemical of Scotland; A G Kurtz of St Helens; James Muspratt of Widnes and Liverpool; Runcorn Soap and Alkali; Charles Tennant of St Rollox, Glasgow; Wigg Brothers and Steele of Runcorn.[2] The merged companies were:
Henry Baxter of St Helens
Globe Alkali Co of St Helens
Greenbank Alkali Works Co of St Helens
A. G. Kurtz and Co of St Helens
James McBryde and Co of St Helens
William Chadwick and Sons t/a St Helens Chemical Co of St Helens
Following the merger of the companies, some concerns were raised about the impact on employment. In
Robert Sherard's The White Slaves of England (1896) he quotes of the impact in Runcorn, where the Alkali factory previously employed about 500 men but fewer than ten after amalgamation.