Scottish Aluminium is a new display in Kelvin Hall that explores the story of the British Aluminium Company (known as BA), its deep roots in Scotland and historical links to the British Empire.
Here, Jesper Ericsson, Curator of Numismatics at The Hunterian, looks at BA’s links to Gold Coast (Ghana) and a selection of items in the display’s cabinets that relate to empire.
From the outset, loyalty to country and empire was a core part of the company’s ethos and key to the patriotic image BA developed for itself. To support these values, senior staff with civil and military backgrounds in imperial service were actively recruited.
The British Aluminium Company was founded in May 1894. That same year, BA acquired the exclusive British and Colonial rights to the Héroult process of manufacturing aluminium. It went on to invest heavily in various schemes.
One was the British and Colonial Bauxite Company. Founded in 1927, it established mining rights in British Guiana (Guyana, South America) and Gold Coast, which BA would actively exploit.
Gold Coast Bauxite
Aluminium is the most abundant metal on earth but to be useful to us needs to be extracted and refined. Bauxite contains alumina (aluminium oxide). It takes four tons of bauxite to produce two tons of alumina powder. Two tons of alumina powder makes one ton of aluminium.
Although the first deposits of Gold Coast bauxite were found in 1915, large-scale mining only began in 1941. This was vital for the British war effort as BA’s former main source of bauxite, France, was under Axis occupation.
Aluminium was essential for the manufacture of innumerable items desperately needed for military use. For example, aluminium alloys were used for many parts of the famous Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft, including the stressed metal skin and cylinders of their Merlin engines.
There’s a Glasgow connection here as Rolls Royce in Hillington made Merlin engines for aircraft like Spitfires and Lancaster bombers during the Second World War.
Gold Coast therefore became one of the most important sources of bauxite for Britain’s aluminium companies, including BA. By 1945, over 40% of known deposits were in countries that were part of the British Empire, mostly in British Guiana, Gold Coast and Jamaica, as well as India and Australia.
Gold Coast became the independent country of Ghana in 1957. Bauxite remains a major export amid ongoing concerns about the threats mining poses to forest reserves and the fragile ecosystems they contain.
The following items are on loan to The Hunterian from University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections.
Coronation of Edward VIII Medal
Edward’s reign only lasted between January and December 1936 before he abdicated. The commemorative medal (below) as King and Emperor was made in anticipation of a coronation that never took place. Instead, the same date (12 May 1937) was used for the coronation of George VI and Elizabeth, parents of the late Elizabeth II.
So why does the title ‘Emperor’ appear on the medal? In 1877, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India by the British government. After her death, her successors (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI) all used the title Emperor of India.
This practice ceased in 1948. Up to that point, it was common for British and British colonial coin and medal inscriptions, whether in abbreviated Latin, or English, to include this.
Even in British colonies thousands of miles away from India, people couldn’t escape this imperial proclamation.
‘Drink More Cocoa’ Advertising Token
Imperial trade was vital to Britain’s interests. The token below from 1924 shows the economic impact of British colonialism at first hand and in blunt terms. Cocoa generated colossal sums of money, as did bauxite.
But who really benefitted from the profits that these industries generated? Did these filter down to local communities? What about conditions on farms? Were workers paid a fair wage?
Like bauxite, cocoa has been an important export for Ghana since the colonial period. However, similar environmental issues blight the industry, as well as persistent reports about the use of child labour to harvest cocoa pods.
Colonial Coinage
Britain was the first country to produce aluminium coins for general circulation, but not for domestic use. Instead, coins were designed for colonial territories in Africa.
The hole in the middle of this 1908 1/10th penny from British West Africa (Nigeria) allowed coins to be carried on a length of string. To save on production costs, the aluminium was diluted with other metals.
This caused the coins to corrode in hot, humid, tropical climates. The experiment was abandoned, leaving many locals out of pocket as a result.
Cooking Pot
Made in December 1897 at the School of Arts in Madras, India, the inscription on this pot is in Tamil. It is repeated in English on the other side:
THE FIRST ALUMINIUM COOKING VESSEL MADE IN MADRAS BY K. GANGADHARA BUTHER, SCHOOL OF ARTS DEC 1897. ALUMINIUM SUPPLIED TO SIR ALFRED CHATTERTON BY THE BRITISH ALUMINIUM COMPANY.
The pot was made using aluminium from Foyers, so the metal travelled a long way from the Highlands. In India, people used to inscribe their cooking pots as communal dish washing was common, so not only does this item mark a ‘first’, it also reflects a traditional practice.
There are a couple of names on this pot. We know about Sir Alfred Chatterton: he was Professor of Engineering in Madras. But who’s the maker mentioned on the pot? Who is K Gangadhara Buther?
It’s fantastic that the person who made it is mentioned. We’re looking into this and will hopefully be able to add their story. The School of Arts still exists and today is known as the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai, so if anyone from there is reading this, please get in touch!
Find out more
Scottish Aluminium runs until 26 August and can be viewed whenever Kelvin Hall is open.
Search for items held by The Hunterian and Archives & Special Collections relating to aluminium and the British Aluminium Company/British Alcan Ltd here.
The National Library of Scotland holds digital material relating to aluminium such as Metal in Harmony,a BA film made in 1962 which you can view online or at NLS in Kelvin Hall.
If you’re looking for a good book, I recommend Aluminiumville: Government, Global Business and the Scottish Highlands by Andrew Perchard, available through your local library or online.
Special thanks to colleagues at The Hunterian, Archives & Special Collections, Photographic Unit, National Library of Scotland and Glasgow Life for their help with the display.
There are more brilliant blogs by Jesper and others stretching right across our collection for you to explore – covering coins, medals and much more!
