It was a business that at its height employed thousands, but this photograph from 1944 shows the entire workforce of Marchon – all 50 of them.

And that includes the bosses, Frank Schon and Fred Marzillier, the two men in white coats.

Those in the know will also hopefully be able to recognise lots of faces and pick out Otto Secher, seated on the left.

Our thanks for this pictorial peep into Whitehaven’s industrial past go to Billy Steele, who is now 90 and features in the photo as a teenage lad in his first employment (centre back, fair hair, sporting white shirt and braces).

Billy, Cleator Moor born and bred, had left Montreal School at aged just 14 and started with the firm at its early premises at Swingpump Lane, and, apart from three years’ service with the army, was to stay with Marchon for the next 40 years.

When he retired he was a senior supervisor in the phosphoric acid department and today Billy enjoys retirement with his wife Marjorie at their home at The Crescent, Cleator Moor, having marked 62 years of marriage.

Though taken over by its competitor in the world of detergents, Albright & Wilson, in 1955 the site did not relinquish the Marchon name until 1984… and for some it never did, throughout its transition to French firm Rhodia and then the American company Huntsman and finally to closure in 2005.

Escaping from the bombing of London, Marchon Products started out manufacturing firelighters at Hensingham, later moving up to the Ladysmith coke ovens at Kells and by 1951 almost 600 people were employed in what had become its main business, producing synthetic detergents.

During the years 2006/07 the majority of the buildings and structures on the site were demolished and removed.

Nowadays, the site features a housing development, known as Waters Edge.