Job: Dry Soap Packer

Mary Horris (1874-1910) is Dermot's great grandmother and the only person I have in the records listed as being a Dry Soap Packer. Mary gave her occupation as dry soap packer on the 1891 census, she would have been 17 years old at the time.

Mary probably worked for Hudson’s Soap, which was located in Bank Hall, situated in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool, where Mary lived.

Hudson’s soap powder was the first satisfactory and commercially successful soap powder. The factory was originally set up in West Bromwich in 1837 by Robert Spear Hudson. The soap powder was made by grinding coarse bar soap. Although his business was listed as being the "Manufacturer of Dry Soap", he did not make it, but bought the raw soap from William Gossage of Widnes.

In 1875, the West Bromwich factory was too small and too far from the source of his soap, so he moved his works to Bank Hall. The factory eventually employed about 1’000 people and was eventually sold to Lever Brothers in 1908.

Hudson's business flourished, partly because of the demand for domestic soap products, but also because of his high levels of advertising, with posters appearing on coaches and tramcars. Below is an example from 1892.

Information found from Grace's Guide to British Industrial History