William Gossage (12 May 1799 – 9 April 1877) was a chemical manufacturer who established a soap making business in Widnes, Lancashire, England.

[3] During this time Gossage experimented with a method of absorbing the hydrochloric acid gas released as a result of the Leblanc process of manufacturing alkali.

[6] From 1841 to 1844 Gossage was in Birmingham manufacturing white lead and from 1844 to 1848 he was in Neath, Wales, experimenting with copper smelting.

Here he established an alkali works on the opposite side of the Sankey Canal from Hutchinson's No 1 factory near to Widnes Dock.

[3] Gossage's alkali production was on a small scale and he spent time in various experiments, including extracting sulphur from copper ores, extracting copper from iron pyrites, concentrating sulphuric acid and manufacturing caustic soda from the black ash liquor resulting from the Leblanc process.

[7] Following another experiment, consisting of adding sodium silicate to soda ash, he discovered he could produce soap at a much lower cost than by the methods existing at the time and in 1855 he gave up making alkali to set up his soap works.