He was educated at home and at the Ochiltree parish school, then was apprenticed by his father to a master handloom weaver at Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire.

[1][2][3] Tennant was quick to learn his trade, but also to see that the growth of the weaving industry was restricted by the primitive methods used to bleach the cloth.

At that time this involved treatment with stale urine and leaving the cloth exposed to sunlight for many months in so called bleachfield.

[citation needed] Further, in the last half of the eighteenth century, bleachers started to use lime in the bleaching process, but only in secret due to possible injurious effects.

In 1798, James Knox and Robert Tennant (Charles younger brother), went to Ireland where they struck a deal with the Irish bleachers, for the use of the process.

[citation needed] As a dedicated reformer Charles eventually played a large part in the political movements of the day.

Following the success of this Bill, Charles appears to have been a leading light in the movement to honor Scotland's Political Martyr Thomas Muir of Huntershill.

[citation needed] His ideas and active support helped create one of the most productive periods of social progress and reform in Scotland's history.

To solve these issues, he designed new ways to transport people and freight, using wagons pulled by a steam engine, on iron rails laid on a level roadbed.

He conceived these ideas based on information provided by his good friend George Stephenson, a talented railway engineer.

[citation needed] In an attempt to control the transportation of chemical products to nearby markets, he provided his younger sister Sarah's son, William Sloan, with several small schooners in 1830.

Unfortunately when Tennant attempted to protect his rights against infringement, his patent was held invalid on the double ground that the specification was incomplete and that the invention had been anticipated at a bleach works near Nottingham.

The process involved reacting chlorine and dry slaked lime to form bleaching powder, a mixture of calcium hypochlorite and other derivatives.

[8] At the time of construction it was the tallest such structure in the world (losing the accolade 17 years later to the Townsend Chimney, located less than a mile away at Port Dundas).

The sculpture is by Patrick Park (1811–1855) and appears to be based on Francis Chantrey's statue of James Watt in the nearby Hunterian Museum.

Outwith ICI and its successors the privately owned group, now Tennants Consolidated Ltd., continues with headquarters in London and chemicals, colours and distribution trade with every continent.