Tate, Alexander Norman 1837 - 1892

A. Norman Tate (1837-1892) was an analytical chemist and teacher of science. In 1857 he began studying chemistry in the laboratory of James Sheridan Muspratt's Royal College of Chemistry in Duke Street, Liverpool. In 1860 he was engaged as an analyst by John Hutchinson & Co., alkali manufacturers of Widnes, but in 1863 he and his brother, Frank, established their own analytical and consulting practice in Liverpool. He wrote several analytical papers which were published by the Chemical Society of London, focussing on the study of American petroleum which was then being brought onto the market as an illuminant. Following the publication of his Petroleum and its Products (1863), which was translated into French and German, he temporarily gave up his Liverpool practice in order to erect oil refineries processing coal and shale on the Isle of Man and in Flintshire. He married in 1869 and returned to Liverpool where he established a School of Technical Chemistry which in 1873 became the Liverpool College of Science and Technology. In 1870 he and James Samuelson established the Liverpool Science and Art Classes. He also founded the Liverpool Science Students' Association and the Liverpool Science and Art Teachers' Association. Besides teaching chemistry, Tate gained a considerable reputation as a specialist in the analysis of oils, fats, and waxes for W. H. Lever and other soap and food manufacturers.