Walter Weldon

Walter Weldon
Born	31 October 1832 Loughborough, England
Died	20 September 1885 (aged 52) Burstow England
Nationality	British

Walter Weldon (31 October 1832 – 20 September 1885) was an English chemist, journalist, and fashion publisher.

Family

He was brother to Ernest J. Weldon, founder of Weldon & Wilkinson Ltd. Walter's second son was Walter Frank Raphael Weldon, an English evolutionary zoologist and biometrician.

Journalist

In 1854 he began work as a journalist in London with The Dial (which was afterwards incorporated in The Morning Star), and in 1860 he started a monthly magazine, Weldon's Register of Facts and Occurrences relating to Literature, the Sciences and the Arts, which was later discontinued.^[1]

Chemist

He then turned to chemistry and developed the Weldon process to produce chlorine by boiling hydrochloric acid with manganese dioxide. MnO₂ was expensive, and Weldon developed a process for its recycling by treating the manganese chloride produced with milk of lime and blowing air through the mixture to form a precipitate known as Weldon mud which was used to generate more chlorine.

Manganese dioxide reacts with hydrochloric acid to chlorine and Manganse chloride:

$\mathrm{MnO_2 + 4 \ HCl \longrightarrow MnCl_2 + Cl_2 + 2 \ H_2O}$

Publisher

Walter Weldon also founded Weldon's Fashion Journal,^[2] Weldon's Patterns, and Weldon's Household Encyclopaedia.

His publications in the late 1800s were through Weldon & Company, a pattern company who produced hundreds of patterns and projects for numerous types of Victorian needlework. Around 1888, the company began to publish a series of books entitled Weldon’s Practical Needlework, each volume consisting of the various newsletters (one year of publications) bound together with a cloth cover and costing 2 shilling/6 pence.

Weldon's Ladies' Journal (1875–1954) supplied dressmaking patterns, and was a blueprint for subsequent 'home weeklies'.

Bibliography

• Weldon’s Practical Needlework
  • Volume 1 - practical knitting, patchwork & crochet, stitches explained.
  • Volume 2 - stocking knitter, cross-stitch embroidery, crewel work, bazaar articles, knitting, crochet, smocking, appliqué work, netting, lace, crochet edgings, knitting edgings.
  • Volume 3 - lace shawls, crocheted evening bags using macramé cord (corday).
  • Volume 4 - knitting, crochet, Mountmellick embroidery, smocking, tatting, decorative needlework, beadwork, macramé lace.
  • Volume 5- knitting, Mountmellick, crochet, drawn thread work,netting.
  • Volume 6 - crochet, knitting, ivory embroidery, canvas embroidery, jewelled embroidery, patchwork, linen embroidery, Mountmellick embroidery, macramé lace
  • Volume 7 - crinkled paper work, knick-knacks, ivory embroidery, knitting, crochet, church embroidery, Mountmellick embroidery, Japanese curtain work.
  • Volume 8 - crochet, Hungarian embroidery, church decorations, crinkled paper work, Mountmellick embroidery, knitting, Bulgarian embroidery.
  • Volume 9 - plain needlework, stock knitting, Mountmellick embroidery, crinkled and crepe tissue paper work, knitting, monograms & initials.
  • Volume 10 - appliqué embroidery, crochet, knitting, leather work, pincushions, point lace, ribbon plaiting.
  • Volume 11 - bent iron work, crochet, knitting, macramé & bead work, point lace, stocking knitter, torchon lace.
  • Volume 12 - crochet & knitted waistcoats, drawn thread work, knitting, Mountmellick embroidery, smocking, stocking knitter.

References

1.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Weldon, Walter". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
2. http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/blowup1/27250