Portrait of a Pioneer
John Morgan visits the grandson of the man who put Erinoid on the map

I was welcomed into a lovely Cotswold stone cottage situated in the grounds of the church where Mr. E.R. (Bob) Petersen is verger. We talked about his grandfather Mr. E.A. Petersen who was instrumental in setting up the factory of Erinoid a few miles distant but which is now converted into a trading estate.

The son of a master baker, Petersen senior was born at Harburg in Germany and after leaving school his first job was writing luggage labels. In 1903, in his early twenties he emigrated to the United States of America. Out West, he tried his hand in turn as labourer. packer, bartender and shipping clerk. He and three friends later pooled their joint savings in a travelling cinema, complete with a black marquee. The show, with its primitive hand operated projection equipment and arc-light, toured the Southern States for about a year before Petersen and one of his associates went down with malaria, an illness which was to trouble him in later years. After recovery, he moved to the more temperate climate of New York where he joined the General Electric Company, Schenectady, as a mechanic. Experience had served him well and he soon advanced to a senior position in the costing department. Whilst there, he married a girl he had known in Germany but his recurring malaria forced their return to Europe where he joined the Galalith Company, casein manufacturers at Harburg.

Meanwhile in England, casein manufacture under the trade name 'Syrolit' had started in a former cloth mill at Lightpill, Stroud, Gloucestershire using local milk and, later. fresh curd from Ireland. The company soon failed. The Condensed Milk Company of Limerick was on the point of taking over the remaining assets and removing them to Ireland when, through his association with Mr Cleeve, of toffee fame, whose products relied upon the dairy products of The Condensed Milk Company, Petersen became aware of the situation. He persuaded them to keep the Stroud site and to set up manufacture from casein granules rather than the more expensive and wasteful process starting with milk or curd. They appointed him Works Manager early in 1914 and set him the task of producing a minimum of 5 tons per week. He cleverly negotiated himself a percentage payment for all materials of ‘saleable quality’ produced.

With the onset of the First World War supplies of casein from abroad ceased and the trade anxiously awaited the first Erinoid material; button manufacturers from Birmingham were queuing at the gates to take the first consignments away by car. At first, Erinoid casein was available only in rod form but in 1915 a range of rod and sheet material was exhibited at the first British Industries Fair. Queen Mary was much impressed by the beautiful colour effects in the new material and ordered several articles of costume jewellery for her own use. After the plant had been running for a while Petersen, being a German national. was interned at Alexandra Palace for the remaining war years. He wasn't bitter about this, his family still lived in Stroud and he was still paid.

Although not a scientist, he carried out many experiments in the laboratory and Bob still has his notebook. It is written mainly in German and lists many formulations for the colours and effects for which casein is noted.
An entry for Buffalo Horn reads:
6½ lb casein
800 gm water
0.5 gm Manchester Brown
1.0 gm Carbon Black
Light part: Natural, or for yellowish, 8gm Tartrazine and 1gm Scarlet in 80kg.
Put brown through 8mm nozzle, cut into lengths of 2cm.
For 8mm sheets, throw 4 lumps to 100g mixture.

He experimented with casein inlay to give an accurate striking surface on the face of wooden golf clubs but the material proved unsuitable for this application. An experiment to use the water wheel at the old mill to generate electricity for the factory may also have been unsuccessful, but it is probable that this was the generator which provided electricity for the large, stonebuilt house to which Mr and Mrs Petersen moved in the 1920s. The house was situated just outside Stroud on the Painswick road and the nearby stream provided all the power required until 1952 when new owners insisted that mains electricity be installed! Their only child, Bob's father, went to the grammar school in Stroud, finished his education in Germany and returned to do an engineering apprenticeship. He too worked in the casein industry, not for Erinoid, but in London for Lactonite, the Estonian based casein manufacturers. Tragically, he was killed in a motor accident when only 26 gears old.

Petersen had retired in 1929 at the age of 48, mainly on account of his poor health. In 1940 he was interned again but was released six months later on health grounds. He was, however allowed no transport, required to report to the police every week and had to seek permission to travel more than five miles from his home. Because of the war, he lost a lot of money as most of his savings were invested abroad in places such as Danzig and Budapest.

The family photo album contains many pictures, some showing the early days in the US, including the travelling cinema; others showing his fondness for big cars and his love of gardening.

Bob has several casein articles which belonged to his grandfather: a delightful chess set, a paper knife, a set of coasters, a whist marker and a cup and dice. Many more items were donated to the Science Museum a few gears ago and hopefully these will be available for display, perhaps in 1999 at the centenary of casein. Bob remembers that his grandfather, who died in 1958. was regarded as a strict employer but one who was popular with the workforce and who did quite a lot for the workpeople of Stroud during the depression in the twenties.

In the early fifties. the management at Erinoid thought it would be a good idea to offer employment to Bob in order to maintain an association with the Petersen name, but his grandfather advised him not to accept. "It will not last", he said. The factory finally closed in 1982.