RAWSON Christopher

Christopher RAWSON was General Manager of “The Native Guano Company”, in the City of London.

The Native Guano Company was established in March 1869 to utilise town sewage, purified according to a patent “assigned in Trust to this company” for “the manufacture of a dry and portable manure, possessing highly fertilising properties”. The patentees were William and Robert Sillar, both bullion brokers, and George Wigner of King’s Lynn, a 25 year old analytical chemist. All three were amongst the members of the Board of Directors.
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In 1871 the Native Guano Company appointed Christopher Rawson as General Manager. The Company had been quick to get involved with the rash of sewage disposal plans mooted by large towns and cities in Britain and even on the continent offering to collect their sewage, clarify it, and help to sell the outcome at a profit.
The words “native” and “guano” were carefully chosen. The former was presumably intended to emphasise that this was a product whose source was easy to check because it was undeniably local and not of doubtful foreign origin. While the word guano was an attempt to benefit from the newly established reputation of genuine imported guano from Peru as a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and the subject of a lucrative trade.
In 1869, after a temporary address at no.2 Austin Friars, the company had installed themselves by 1871 permanently at no.1 St Swithin’s Lane, and it was from there that Christopher Rawson sought potential collaborators.