CHEMIST Frederick Steiner pitched up in London from his native Alsace not long after Waterloo with a few pennies in his pocket and even fewer words of the language.

He had left a lot of debt behind him, yet within a few years he was one of the richest men in England and had helped to established East Lancashire on the global scene.

Steiner was known to have been developing an elusive red dye - the ‘Holy Grail’ as far as fabric producers were concerned. And, soon after his arrival, he accepted an invitation from Adam Dugdale to travel to Accrington and continue his research at the Broad Oak Print Works.

He did this so successfully that he bought Hyndburn House from the Peel family and his two daughters became leading members of London and Paris society.

He married a lass called Emma who was also from Alsace and they had a son who died young while the girls, Lina and Emma became intimate friends of Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.

Lina became La Comtesse de Jancourt and Emma Hartmann and entertained the prince at her house in Berkeley Square. It was all a long way from where they grew up.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Steiner’s mills at Church drew water from Tinker Brook, Antley Syke and the Hyndburn for boiling with roots of the madder plant rubia tinctorum gathered in Madder Mill Wood near the Dunkenhalgh Estate. The noxious, 20-step manufacturing process achieved a light-fast natural Turkey Red dye that had eluded chemists in Northern Europe for centuries.

By 1832 Steiner had succeeded in dyeing and roller-printing cottons with the much prized Turkey Red. As his businesses became more successful he bought a large piece of land on the Church/Accrington border, and built streets of houses for his workers.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Frederick Street and Steiner Street were followed by Emma and Lina Streets. Several countries to which his calico products were exported were next to go up – Persia, Poland, India, Russia and China Streets. Switzerland had to settle for Swiss Street.

He sold some of the land he had acquired to from compatriot and business partner Frederick Albert Gatty who had joined him from France. Gatty built his home, Elmfield Hall, on the site in 1853. Gatty Park was named after him.

Steiner’s elegant home, Hyndburn House (now demolished) was on the other side of Hyndburn Road,

Gatty’s greatest success was with the invention of khaki dye. In 1884, inspired by a visit to British India, Gatty patented the mineral which he named khaki, for use in its production. The British Army adopted the new khaki uniforms in 1896.

Steiner arrived in England in 1817 when Alsace was occupied by foreign armies after the fall of Napoleon and fellow Protestants in France were living under the White Terror of militant Catholicism.

He came with nothing but debts. But he made sure that he paid back every penny he owed. In addition he was a philanthropist and a leading member of local society.

Accrington, to this day, has a lot to be thankful to him for.