William Carr Stevens

A prospectus published in 1883 to float the Stevens Chemical Manure Co. Ltd. advises us that John Stevens established a business in Fertilisers in 1848 when he was aged 43, known as Stevens Son & Co. In 1860, aged 24, William Carr Stevens, his only son that lived beyond infancy, joined the company. The prospectus describes in some detail the extent of the business.

The company was started in 1881 on the 12 October, and was originally called The Bone Crushing Co. Ltd. The Articles of Association advise us "to carry on the business of crushers of bones and the manufacture of, and dealers in, chemical manures" and it continues "to acquire the business of a bone crusher now carried on under the style of The Bone Crushing Co. at Bow". The exact date that this unlimited company was formed is not know to us. Limehouse Basin>

The first Board Meeting held on the following day mentioned those present as W.C. Cluff (Chairman), W.C. Stevens, H.J. Moors and W.H. Foreshaw (Secretary). W.C. Cluff was William Carr's father-in-law and Harry John Moore was married to one of William Carr's elder sisters, Emma. Only was H.J. Moore Company Director of Bone Crushing, but he was to become Company Secretary of Stevens Chemical Manure Co. Ltd.

The next day at the second Board Meeting, William Carr Stevens was elected Chairman, aged 45, and three years later, in 1884 John William Stevens, aged 20 (William Carr's eldest son) replaced W.C. Cluff as a Director. While he was by far the largest shareholder, no mention of John Stevens (William Carr's father) is made in any of the minutes of The Bone Crushing Co. Ltd. At 76 he may well have retired from active business life. Sadly his wife died many years earlier in 1864 and is buried at St. Mary's, Walthamstow.

In 1882, the Chemical Manure Co. Ltd. was incorporated, thus the other half of the company now known as Fertilisers and Seeds Ltd. was formed. In 1883 saw the beginning of the Stevens Chemcial Manure Co. Ltd. Once again, John Stevens was by far the largest shareholder. It is interesting to note that at this time John was living at The Grange, Bonehurst Road, Horley, Surrey.

Stevens Chemical Manure Co. Ltd. and the Articles of Association tell us that it was "to carry on the business of manufacturers of, and dealers in, chemical manures and manufacturing chemicals and of manufactures of a like nature". It also states "to acquire the business now carried on under the style of Stevens Son & Co. at Weston Street, Bromley in the County of Middx, 34 Mark Lane, London, Queenborough in the County of Kent and Leith in Scotland", thus establishing that a Works at Sheppey had already been started a number of years before Sheppy Glue and Chemical Works Ltd. was formed. All this activity only goes to prove the tremendous business drive and energy that William Carr Stevens possessed.

His appetite for new business activities was still not yet satisfied, as in 1887 he started Sheppy Glue & Chemical Works Ltd. His father having died in 1885, William Carr was now the major shareholder. Because of the name of this company and what it tells us in the Articles of Association, he made a major departure from his normal business activity of processing fats and bones for agriculture to processing fats and bones for the manufacture of glue and soap. It is also worth noting that from the minutes of a Board Meeting held on the 22 August 1887 that the SCMC plant and machinery at Sheppey was brought up by the new company. Furthermore, a hand written report dated 4 April 1887, presented earlier in the year, proposed that the Stevens Chemical Manure Co. Ltd. "due to the state of the manure trade" and it continues "as well as the other reasons brought before the Board on a previous occasion" should purchase the shares in The Bone Crushing Co. Ltd. and Chemical Manure Co. Ltd. This report seems to indicate the ending of SCMC's capacity to manufacture manures at Sheppey and The Bone Crushing Co. Ltd. crushing bones at Bow and anticipates them acting as agricultural merchants only. Thus all three companies could, the report says, concentrate their merchanting efforts with the saving in administration costs that would accrue from the amalgamation. However, for reasons best known to the Board at the time, this report was not adopted and was left for a future generation to carry out.

Not content with al this activity, William Carr Stevens was at the same time, until his death in 1890, buying land and building houses in Horley. One can be by no means certain when this started, but a likely date seem to be in 1878, or maybe two or three years earlier, as his youngest daughter Mildred, was born at home in this year at The Oaks, Bonehurst Road, Horley.

While this house no longer stands, it was later called 'Bonners Place'. Ralph Stevens was born in 1875 at Hooley Cottage, Redhill and christened there, proving, I think, that they lived in Redhill and nor Horley at that time. The older children were born in Forest Gate, Bromley and Walthamstow. Many of the houses that William Carr Stevens built are still standing today and can be seen in Bonehurst Road, our old offices are one, and the older and larger houses in Oakwood Road, Horley (a road build by him with its avenue of Limes and Chestnut trees).

William Carr Stevens tragic death at the early age of 54 in 1890, as a result of a perforated appendix, must have been a terrible blow to his wife, Flora Hasting Stevens.

William Carr Stevens Family Tree