Max Muspratt

Who was Max Muspratt?

Sir Max Muspratt, 1st Baronet was a British chemist and a politician in the city of Liverpool, England.

He was born at Seaforth Hall, Liverpool, the son of Edmund Knowles Muspratt and his wife Frances. The Muspratt family were originally from Dublin but moved to Liverpool in 1822 when James Muspratt, the father of Edmund, established a chemical factory in Vauxhall Road.

Max was educated at a private school in Hemel Hempstead and at Clifton College before studying industrial chemistry at Zürich Polytechnic. He joined the United Alkali Company in 1892, becoming a director in 1901 and its chairman from 1914. In 1926 the United Alkali Company merged with three other companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries and Muspratt was a director from its founding until his death in 1934. He was also a director of the International Automatic Telephone Company. He was a member of the Society of Chemical Industry from 1894, becoming its Vice–President from 1904 to 1906 and again from 1921 to 1924. From 1924 he was chairman of the Association of British Chemical Manufacturers and from 1926–1927 president of the Federation of British Industries.