Robert Lucas Chance

Robert Lucas Chance (8 October 1782 – 7 March 1865),[1] was the fifth child and eldest son of William Chance (a partner in Nailsea Glassworks) and Sarah Lucas (daughter of John Robert Lucas). He was always known as Lucas Chance. He founded the company which became Chance Brothers.

Robert Lucas Chance - from a photograph

Working life

He started work at his father's business in Birmingham, at the age of 12, then started his own glass merchant business in London in 1815. This involved many trips to France where he formed alliances with French owners. In 1824 he purchased the British Crown Glass Company, following the death of the owner, Thomas Shutt, for £24,000 (equivalent to £2,013,000 in 2016).

He founded Chance Glass works, then formed a partnership with John Hartley in 1828. After experiencing financial difficulties in 1832, Lucas was then saved by his brother, William, who also became a partner. The partnership with Hartley's sons (who inherited the partnership on their father's death in 1833) was dissolved in 1836 and the business was then named Chance Brothers & Company.

In 1830, he became great friends with Georges Bontemps, a leading director of a glassworks in France, who would later assist at Chance Brothers following his exile from France. Chance was instrumental in introducing the method of sheet glass production for making flat glass for (primarily) windows. This would eventually dispose the previous working method of crown glass. He was also one of the great exponents in removing the crippling excise duty and the Window Tax. Following these actions, the glass trade in England started to flourish.

In 1851, Chance Brothers supplied the glass to glaze the Crystal Palace, which was probably partly due to Chance's previous links with Joseph Paxton, the architect, when supplying glass for the greenhouses at Chatsworth House.

The two brothers were noted as being very philanthropic, founding a school (1845), a library and a church, all primarily for the workforce. Lucas Chance died in 1865.

References
  1. thePeerage.com - William Chance, father of the founders
  • Chance, J. F. (1919) A History of the Firm of Chance Brothers & Co., Glass and Alkali Manufacturers. London: Printed for private circulation by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co
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