Turkey Red Industry in the Nineteenth Century: Transition from Natural Madder to Synthetic Alizarin

Shahid, M. (2018) Turkey Red Industry in the Nineteenth Century: Transition from Natural Madder to Synthetic Alizarin. RSC Historical Group Meeting on the History of Dyes on the 150th Anniversary of the Synthesis of Alizarin, London, UK, 17 October 2018.

Abstract

Turkey red, a process used to create bright and fast reds on cotton during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, evolved tremendously over the period of more than two centuries of its commercial existence in the European textile industry. Since its early days until the 1870s, different varieties of madder (Rubia tinctorum) were used as a dyeing material. Garancine, a concentrated madder product, was introduced into the Turkey red industry in the 1840s, which served as a transitional product overlapping the use of both madder and alizarin. The synthesis of alizarin in 1868 led to the gradual transition from natural madder to synthetic alizarin. A dyestuffs ledger belonging to Archibald Orr Ewing and Company, held in the University of Glasgow archives, beautifully captures this transition, between madder, garancine, and synthetic alizarin during the period 1873-1892. The ledger provides concentrations, prices and amounts of material used for Turkey red dyeing at three different dyeworks: Levenbank, Milton and Dillichip. This dyestuffs ledger has the last entry for madder in 1874 for the Levenbank works. The two other works at Milton and Dillichip had already abandoned the use of madder. The last entry for garancine appears in 1877 for the Levenbank works and in 1886 for the Milton and Dillichip works. Three contracts of the United Turkey Red Co. for synthetic alizarin, one with the British Alizarine Company (1898) and two with Meister Lucius & Brüning (1899 and 1900), held at University of Glasgow archives indicate that the alizarin used in the Scottish Turkey red industry came from both British and German sources. Another related development was the introduction of Turkey red oil (TRO), patented by Wurth in 1872, in place of the rancid olive oil and the introduction of a short Turkey red process by the use of the alizarin on TRO.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Shahid, Dr Mohammad
• Authors: Shahid, M.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > History of Art

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
68260	1	LightFasTR	Anita Quye	European Commission (EC)	708740	CCA - HISTORY OF ART