Two Families, One Business: The H Foster Story

Every great story needs two beginnings before it becomes one. Ours starts in Leeds, in 1875 - and in a workshop nearly a century later that had nothing to do with chemicals at all.

Where It Began

In 1875, Henry Foster and his son Joseph started something small: a business making products from tallow and wool grease for the leather and textiles trades. Neither of them could have known it would still be trading 150 years later.

By 1900, the business had grown enough to move into new premises at 103 Kirkstall Road, Leeds - a site the company still occupies today. Joseph Foster, now the third generation at the helm, was building something built to last.

The 1920s brought a bold move: H Foster launched its own haulage company, becoming the first business in the area to run tankers. If the industry needed bulk delivery, H Foster would be the ones doing it.

By 1960, the fourth generation - Henry, Chris and Richard Foster - were running the show. As the wool trade declined across the West Riding of Yorkshire, they steered the business back to tallow, proving the family's knack for adapting without losing sight of what they did best. Around this time, H Foster was even producing its own stearic acid - a skill that would become central to the company's identity again, decades later.

A Bold Idea, Miles Away

Meanwhile, a very different story was unfolding. Geoffrey Eggar was working at Astor Chemicals when he met Herman Drews and Walter Hunternberg, owners of a German company called Kahl - and Geoffrey saw an opportunity. So he approached them, saying he wanted to sell to them. In truth, that was never the plan. Geoffrey's real intention all along was to become their UK distributor.

The meeting happened. The deal was struck. And in 1972, Geoffrey founded his own business - Eggar Chemicals - buying a former filling station on the A4 in the village of Theale to serve as its headquarters. It was a bold, confident move: bet everything on a relationship you talked your way into, and build a company around it. Remarkably, the Eggar-Kahl partnership continues to this day, more than 50 years later.

Eggar Chemicals grew quickly. Simon Eggar joined his father's business in 1977, and together the family built up a loyal customer base across the country. Growth brought a good problem: Eggar Chemicals ran out of space at its Theale warehouse.

Where the Two Stories Meet

Geoffrey had already done a little business with Richard Foster, and the Fosters, as it happened, had spare warehouse space to rent. Eggar Chemicals moved in to serve its customers up north - and before long, took office space too, once three sales reps were based there. It was a practical arrangement between two neighbouring businesses. Nobody could have guessed where it would lead.

In July 2005, Richard Foster - approaching retirement - asked the Eggar family a question that would change everything: would they like to buy H Foster? Geoffrey and Simon said yes. The deal completed on 1 August 2006, with Geoffrey Eggar as Chairman and Simon Eggar as Managing Director. One family's landlord had become another family's legacy.

The following year, the Eggars made a decisive choice: Eggar Chemicals was sold to Safic Alcan, allowing Geoffrey and Simon to give H Foster their full attention. It was the end of one chapter and the confident start of another - two family businesses, one history, moving forward as a single story.

One Company, Moving Forward

Under Eggar family leadership, H Foster hasn't just survived - it's thrived. In 2012, the company launched its first e-commerce venture. In 2016, the business was renamed H Foster 1875 Ltd, cementing its heritage in its very name. In 2019, the team moved into a new head office in Goring-on-Thames, and the following year earned ISO 9001 accreditation - a mark of quality the company has held onto ever since.

The momentum kept building. A rebranded 1875.co.uk website launched in 2020, followed by ISO 14001 environmental accreditation in 2021. In 2023, Simon was joined by his son Tom as an equal partner - the next generation, once again, stepping up.

Then, in 2025, came a milestone that captured exactly how far the company had grown. H Foster's operations had always been based at 103 Kirkstall Road in Leeds - the very site the Fosters had moved to back in 1900. But Leeds, like H Foster itself, had grown, and the Foster family - who had remained landlords of the site all this time - made the decision to sell it. Rather than a setback, the move became an opportunity: H Foster relocated its warehouse operations to Steventon, near Didcot, into a significantly larger site built to match the scale the business had reached. It was a symbol of everything the company had become since 1875 - too big now for the building that had housed it for over a century.

Recent years have brought some of the company's proudest milestones yet: supporting the Trust for Sustainable Living and The Living Rainforest in 2024, and achieving EcoVadis Platinum status the same year - placing H Foster among the top 1% of companies worldwide assessed for sustainability performance, a genuinely rare achievement and a reflection of a business built to last for the right reasons. The company was reaccredited as a Living Wage Employer in 2026.

150 Years On

From a Victorian workshop making tallow products, to a smokescreen sales pitch that built a UK chemical distributor, to a chance warehouse rental that brought two families together — H Foster's story could easily have never happened at all. Instead, it became one of quiet reinvention, bold bets, and generation after generation choosing to build rather than settle.

Today, H Foster stands 150 years old: a trusted chemical distribution partner across cosmetics, skincare, and industrial sectors, still run by the family whose own business grew so fast it needed a second warehouse just to keep up. And the best part of this story? It's still being written.

Request a Quote

Looking for a trusted chemical distribution partner? Get in touch with the H Foster team

to discuss your requirements.