William James Chrystal

[1] After working in a laboratory in the 1870s he joined J & J White Chemicals as an expert chemist, and after his uncle John died in 1881 he became the technical partner in the business.

[1] By this time Chrystal’s cousin John Campbell White, the son of his other uncle James, was also a partner.

After the death of James White in 1884 another cousin, Hill Hamilton Barrett, became the commercial partner.

At this time the Shawfield works, mainly producing bichromate of potash, were the largest of their kind in the world and employed over 500 men.

[1] In 1898 he bought and reconstructed Auchendennan House (Arden, Argyll) on Loch Lomond.