what did gt gt gt gt grandad do

[wileman 121]

hi someone just found my x4 gt grandad in the 1851 census working in a alkali factory and i was wondering as i have never heard this before what would he have done 

he was working in bristol in 1851 were there any major factories or anything in this time regards Jason

[avm228]

Hi there,

From what you've said it's impossible to know exactly what his role was in the factory. 

Alkali is used, among other things, for the manufacture of soap, which was a traditional Bristol industry. See the link below for a brief explanation of the processes used for the large-scale manufacture of alkali

http://www.frenchsoaps.co.uk/history.asp?id=692831900

Anna

[stanmapstone]

Alkali is produced mainly as Soda Ash, or Caustic Soda, and is used as a raw material for the manufacture of glass, soap, detergents, paper and alumina . In 1851 it was produced by the Leblanc Process which produced a large amount of enviromental polution due to the discharge to the atmosphere of hydrochloric acid gas. It was not a pleasant industry to work in as it involved the reaction of common salt with sulphiric acid.

See http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/tcaw/11/i01/html/01chemchron.html
Stan