Walter Weldon

Walter Weldon
Born	(1832-10-31)31 October 1832 Loughborough, England
Died	20 September 1885(1885-09-20) (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.

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:

$\mathrm {MnO_{2}+4\ HCl\longrightarrow MnCl_{2}+Cl_{2}+2\ H_{2}O}$

Publisher

Walter Weldon also founded Weldon's Fashion Journal, 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.