Articles

History of Petrol Filling Stations Part 2 –

Some Pioneers of Petrol
By Brian Baker
It is 1859 – Drake had drilled the first set up the first
Oil Well in the USA for the world’s first major oil
Oil Company, The Pennsylvania Rock refinery for
Oil Company that triggered a rush for distillation and
the “Black Gold” across North West distribution
America that in turn saw a phenomenal depot for
growth of oil derricks spreading across mineral oils in
the region in search for the new rival to the UK as the
Kerosene, Whale Oil and other oils demand for the
used for lighting at the time. cheaper and
In England, Whale Oil was used for the more
lighting on a very wide scale before r e l i a b l e
petroleum spirit was eventually “petroleum
discovered as it was found to be less spirit” grew
smoky and dirty once ignited and had a rapidly. He
Figure 3
better degree of light than Whale Oil. successfully
Prior to this, in the 1850’s Crude Oil was negotiated the
used for lighting but it was regarded as lease of a plot
dangerous until Kerosene was of land that had
eventually produced as a by product of
Crude Oil. Kerosene was also being
produced from Shale.
a barn from a
Pork Butcher
named Stephen
New ABFAD ad
In London in 1859, an ageing Dawson at No.5
Chemist known as Eugene Carless White Post
(Figure 1) was acquiring property in Lane. The total
White Post Lane in Hackney, London to cost was £65
p e r
year
and Figure 2
it is
expansion plans some years later,
here he was to go on and
especially when the automobile as we
build the famous Hope
know it made its appearance.
Chemical Works, the first
(Redwood was also instrumental in
purpose built Oil Refinery
persuading Sir Winston Churchill to
and Distribution Depot.
change the Royal Navy’s use of coal to
Carless was an
oil in 1914).
outstanding chemist but a
By 1860, Towns Mains Gas was
poor salesman so he sought
being developed and was slowly being
those skills which initially
introduced across London as an
came in the form of William
illuminate and by 1865 there were some
George Blagdon and they
13 Gas Companies in London alone
became Partners in the
and the rival demand for “petrol” saw
business. Carless also had a
imports coming into the UK from the
powerful friend in Sir
USA from the Anglo American Oil
Thomas Boverton Redwood,
Company who were using the docks in
a Government Minister at the
the major cities of England by 1864. At
time who was to have an
Figure 1 Eugene Careless founder of Hope Chemical works this time, oil was transported in wooden
influence on the Company’s

28 New APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507

 oak barrels known as “Puncheons” that
were up to 90 gallons in capacity.
(Figures 2 & 3)
Oils were being produced by a
number of ways. Whale Oil was very
popular as not only were large
quantities available but other products
could be used for soap,
pharmaceuticals and other fats such
margarine. At this time, a Kerosene
Lamp had been invented in by Ignacy
Lukasiewicz, a Polish inventor in 1853
that worked
on the “wick”
principle
(Figure 4)
Metal can filling
Some quite
Chemical Works which holds two company with Carless without any
brilliant work
interesting archives that showed their given reason but he found a
was taking
links to Churches. The first document is replacement investor into the business
place by a
a circular letter to Clergymen dated in the form of George Bligh Capel (an
y o u n g
1865 and was accompanied by a leaflet industrialist) and by 1872 a third partner
Scottish
that shows that Carless Blagdon & Co joined the company known as John
C h e m i s t
had produced a spirit known as .680 Hare Leonard who came from a Bristol
known as
(specific gravity) that they called business family, both of these men had
J a m e s
“Carburine” that almost certainly meant the flair and vision to take Carless,
“Paraffin”
that they had within their use a form of Capel & Leonard to new heights and
Young from
carburettor that they claimed the rapid expansion of the business.
the early
Church of St Paul’s at Stratford, London In 1890, a young German engineer
1850’s by
Figure 4 - Kerosene Lamp had been using for lighting fuel for a named Frederick Simms came to
obtaining
year and that it burns most brightly than England with the intention of introducing
paraffin from bituminous Shale Rocks
any of its rivals. motor launches onto the Country’s
by slow distillation, later to become
Another leaflet within the company canals. Simms was a close friend of
known as Shale Naptha that was also a
archives refers to “Magic Cleaning Gottlieb Daimler, the Car Maker. At the
chemical used in Dry Cleaning and
Spirit” that is “The most rapid and time, Daimler’s firm was interested in
Flare Lamps. It also interesting to note
effectual remover of solvent and grease gas-oil engines for motor launches
the close relationship to the terms of the
and can remove any other impurity (boats) and it was these engines,
day as the organic material within the
including fabrics used in drapes and imported from Germany that Simms
sedimentary shale rocks is known as
carpets and that after a few minutes fitted to his early launches. England had
Kerogen!
when it has evaporated it leaves no no cars with internal combustion
It was 1856 that Sir William Perkin
smell, even Ostrich Feathers can be engines, due to the Locomotive
discovered his mauve dye and this
cleaned!” This was often referred to as Amendment Act 1878 (Red Flag Act),
necessitated the rectification on a large
Benzene and Camphine. so no suitable fuel was available for use
scale of ‘Benzole’ for the manufacture
The decline of petroleum imports with carburettors.
of aniline, another derivative from oil.
began at the outset of the American Simms consulted with Carless, Capel
This ‘dye’ went on to become a
Civil War in 1864 so other means of & Leonard who were by now leaders in
standard ingredient of petrol. This was
extraction and supply was sought but the English oil distillation trade. By 1891
the lightest product distilled from Coal-
little did they know that the discovery of the Company was supplying “Launch
Tar (distillation of coal that can produce
electricity was 20 odd years away and Fuel” – a deodorised petroleum spirit
gas as a by-product) and the value at
combined with the continued spread of which was suitable for Simm’s engines.
that time was not realised until more
Towns Mains Gas, the demand for The Company itself were also to go on
than 30 years later when the motor car
petroleum based lighting spirit started to and forge close links with Frederick
effectively made its appearance and the
diminish but an interest into mechanical Henry Royce who with Charles Rolls
need to distinguish the later brands of
machines (engines) started to develop formed the Rolls Royce Car Company
petrol from a colourless liquid.
in 1860. in 1906. Carless, Capel & Leonard
Back to London and the Hope
By 1870, Blagdon had parted became their preferred supplier of the

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New Fairbanks
ad

MOVRIL the wonder fuel
time.
In 1893 Frederick Simms suggested
that the spirit should be renamed
PETROL, a name that was adopted by
Carless, Capel & Leonard who believed
it would become a commercial asset to
their company. Therefore a new word
had been introduced into the English
language and used ever since.
The introduction of improved
carburettors and more powerful engines
was having its effect. In 1906, Carless,
Capel & Leonard brought out a motor
spirit suitable for these improved
engines which they called “MOVRIL”
and registered the name as a trade
mark.
New QSS ad This fuel was not as volatile as their
standard petrol which had a specific
gravity of 0.7 but it was cheaper to buy.
In London, “MOVRIL” was sold for 4p a
gallon as against 11p for the standard
grade. Both types of fuel were sent out
in round tapered cans (often in wooden
crates) but to avoid confusion between
the two grades, those containing
“MOVRIL” were painted red while the
other was blue.
In 1908 the firm introduced square 2
gallon metal tins for both brands
although the old 2 gallon cans
continued to be used (and still around
today). Standard Spirit superseded
“MOVRIL” after a few years.
34 New APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507
Coincidentally, the size of 2 gallons was
based on the early petrol tanks fitted to
the prototype cars in the years leading
up to the turn of the 19th century
“MOVRIL” proved to be popular with
motorists but involved its makers in
some curious litigation with
Proprietors of BOVRIL Ltd whose name
was also registered as a trade mark on
the grounds that it would cause
confusion with their product – a meat
essence!
Despite this, the registrar of Trade
Marks upheld the MOVRIL mark. An
appeal by BOVRIL Ltd against this
decision to the Board of Trade in 1907
was defeated. The strange name of
MOVRIL had been derived from the
word “vril” that had been taken from
Lord Lytton’s novel “The Coming Race”
to describe an imaginary force that
annihilated time and space to which the
prefix “Mo” was added to denote
movement. It was hoped that the new
word would convey the idea of a vital
force for a motor car!
By 1910 horse drawn omnibuses and
charabancs were being replaced by
petrol driven passenger vehicles. The
following year (1911) a spirit known as
“CARBUS” was produced which was
more suitable for these heavier engines
and resulted in greater demand for
motor fuels. This in turn caused the
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Articles
method of fuel delivery to be
changed from cans to bulk tank
supply and the appearance of the
first petrol pumps in the early
1920’s
By 1914 engine design had
progressed to the extent that the
value of adding “Benzole” to petrol
had been realised and that such
quantities of fuel were now being
supplied to the armed forces during
the First World War.
The dawn of the Motor Car as we
know it had arrived and the first
purpose built Petrol Stations started
to appear in London and far beyond
Jamie Thompson, former
Principal Petroleum Inspector of
London Fire Brigade and now a
leading Consultant recalls
inspecting the Hope Chemical
Works. He says
“I visited and inspecting the Carless
Capel and Leonard premises in the
heavily industrial area of East London,
first in the 1966 when as a young
inspector I was taken around the
laboratories to see the distillation
the
processes- a must for all new
inspectors, and later as a senior
inspector when the premises were
beginning to close in 1984.
At that period in its history Carless
were not really a petrol supplier but had
moved to supplying industrial solvents,
(petroleum spirits and mixtures) to
many of the local industries. They had
also a distribution terminal with loading
gantries and road tankers, which were
inspected annually and indeed, had the
oldest underground tanks in London,
which had dated back to the 1890’s.
The tanks had been installed in
“puddled clay”. The business eventually
moved to Harwich.”
Bibliography – Pioneers of Petrol – A
Centenary History of Carless, Capel &
Leonard Edward Lvieing,(H.F. & G
Witherby Ltd) 1959
Free Wikepedia Encyclopedia (various)
BP Archives, University of Warwick
Next time, The Coming of the Early
Petrol Stations
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