| Administrative History | Herman Eugene Falk was born in Danzig in 1820 and came to England at the age of 18 to join his brothers in a timber importing business at Hull. The firm obtained contracts from the engineer Robert Stephenson, for the supply of sleepers for railway construction and shipped salt as return cargo to the Baltic. In 1842 Falk moved to Liverpool, becoming one of the most important saltmakers and the largest exporter of salt in Great Britain.
In 1844 he began the rock salt mine at Meadow bank, Winsford. He also worked as a salt broker and was active in the Cheshire based White Salt Trade which in the 1840s and 1850s worked to regulate salt prices. 1858 saw the foundation of the Salt Chamber of Commerce of Cheshire and Worcestershire, convened by Falk. In 1862 he took over as the representative of the Salt Chamber on the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. He became Vice President of the Salt Chamber of Commerce in 1864, its Chairman in 1865 and served as its President from 1867-1889.
In 1875-1876 Falk travelled to India, Indonesia, China, Japan and California in search of new markets for salt. In 1879-80 he travelled to India, Burma, Ceylon and Malaya.
Falk first circulated his scheme for the formation of a Salt Union in 1884. The Salt Union was first registered as a company on 6 October 1888.At the time of his death on 19 January 1898, he was living at Catsclough, Winsford; probate was granted in London to his widow Alice. His effects were valued at £16,948. Herman John Falk died at the Warneford Hospital, Oxford on 11 February 1941; probate was granted at Oxford to Oswald Falk. His effects were valued at £9,644. H J Falk's wife Mary Gertrude died on 2 October 1937. |