Historical information

Wright’s Coal Tar Soap was a popular brand of household soap, manufactured by William Valentine Wright from 1867. The oval yellow soap tablet was antiseptic, designed to cleanse the skin thoroughly. It was originally named Sapo Carbonis Detergens, which remains a registered trademark.

The product was developed from ‘liquor carbonis detergens’, the liquid by-product of the distillation of coal to make coke. The liquid was made into an antiseptic soap for treating skin diseases.

William Valentine Wright was born in 1826 at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. He was a wholesale druggist and chemist who had a small business, W.V. Wright & Co., at 11 Old Fish Street Hill, City of London, where he first sold the soap. In 1863 Wright moved his firm to small premises at 50 Southwark Street, Southwark, London, and not long afterwards M. Sellers and Mr Charles Noel Layman joined the partnership. The company's name changed to Wright, Layman & Umney, when Charles Umney (1843–1909) was taken into the partnership on June 17, 1876, after the death of M. Sellers. William Valentine Wight 1877.

Rob Umney, great-great-grandson of Charles Umney, provided further details about the firm, adding that in the late 1960s, the Wright’s Coal Tar Soap business was taken over by LRC Products Ltd who sold it to Smith & Nephew in 1994. The current owners of the brand, Simple Health and Beauty Ltd are based in Solihull and the soap is called Wright's Traditional Soap ‘With coal tar fragrance’. The coal tar has been replaced with tea tree oil. There were concerns that ingredients in coal tar could cause cancer when a person is exposed to very high concentrations, such as in roofing and road paving. In January 2025 the current manufacturers still produce the Wright's Coal Tar Soap.

Significance

Wright's Coal Tar Soap was sold throughout the United Kingdom and Colonies, which includes Australia. The soap represents many consumer goods sold at pharmacies and chemist shops across the world, such as Sambell and Son, who operated a pharmacy in Fairy Street, Warrnambool in the 19th century. The product has endured for over 150 years.

Physical description

Soap; yellow oval tablet of soap engraved with the brand Wright's Coal Tar oval.

Inscriptions & markings

"WRIGHT'S / COAL TAR / SOAP"