ABSTRACT
the repeal in 1845 of the excise duty on window glass resulted in big changes both in the quantity and type of glass demanded, and this is, therefore, an important date in the development of the industry. As the excise laws limited the thickness of window glass to a thickness of a ninth of an inch or less, a definite distinction was drawn between window glass and plate glass; the latter was a luxury product taxed at a high rate. There were at this date fourteen factories engaged in the manufacture of window glass, 349 two substantial plate-glass manufacturers—the London and Manchester Plate Glass Company of Ravenhead, St Helens, and the Birmingham Plate Glass Company—and a number of small plate-glass manufacturers in the London area. Only two of the firms which were in existence in 1845 survived as active flat-glass manufacturers into the twentieth century; both were makers of window glass. The first was Chance Brothers, already a large firm in 1845, and the second Pilkington Brothers, founded in 1826, which, although prosperous, had reached no more than average size by 1845. The other firms of importance in 1845 were Hartley’s, which had moved to Sunderland, and the old firm of Cookson’s at Newcastle-on-Tyne, which in 1845 became R. W. Swinburne & Co.
