William Cook was angered by my new book, Kingston Past. "It says a lot about aviation in Kingston, but nothing about the firm which made it possible," he complained.

He's right. Neither my book, nor any other on the Royal borough, says a word about Cellon.

It isn't even listed in Kingston Museum's local history reference files.

Thanks to Mr Cook, who worked 43 years with the firm and lives in Surbiton, and Aubrey Barr, who is the son of Cellon's founder, and lives in Thames Ditton, that gap can now be filled.

Alexander "Sonny" Wallace Barr disliked being an articled clerk in his father's accountancy firm. Then came an unexpected chance of escape.

He was playing for Richmond Hockey Club in 1911 when a team mate asked if he had any aviation contacts who might be interested in a new German material that promised to revolutionise the proofing and strengthening of aeroplane wings and windscreens.

It involved processing cellulose acetate to make what is known in the industry as "dope" and, to cut a long story short, Wallace Barr eventually acquired patent rights to the material, which he made and marketed under the trade name Cellon.

It was a daring move.

Aviation was still in its infancy, and its pioneers were derided as "maniacs".

Wallace Barr knowingly risked ruin as he mixed his cellulose solutions in a shed under the railway arches at Clapham before taking them by car to Short Bros, Sopwith's of Kingston and other aerial trail-blazers.

World War I was a turning point.

Aircraft production had to be boosted, and orders for the all-important dope increased so much that Wallace Barr had to have his solutions made by Tyrer and Co, and acquire new premises in Petersham Road, Richmond (later to become the British Legion Poppy Factory.

First, though, he had to find a new source of cellulose acetate.

By special military request, he was granted a rare special permit to fly to Paris.

There he did a deal with a large chemical firm that had produced small quantities of cellulose acetate and was the only source, other than the German one, available.

In 1918 Wallace Barr and Tyrer merged their plane dope operation under the new name Cellon (Richmond) Ltd.

The war ended soon afterwards, and orders for aeroplane dope - the company's sole product - dried up.

Diversification was the only answer, and by the 1920s the company had developed a wide range of industrial paints and cellulose finishes.

These included Porcelac, a white enamel for bathroom fittings, and Cerrac lacquers for wood and polished metal.

These proved so popular that a larger factory was required.

A five-acre site in Kingston was bought in 1927 for £1,000, and two years later a new purpose-built factory opened amid the fields and market gardens that still bordered the northern end of Richmond Road.

Appropriately but coincidentally, it stood opposite the factory that evolved into the giant British Aerospace works.

Throughout the inter-war years, Cellon was one of only two firms in Britain making dope for the aircraft industry.

But the start of World War II in 1939 made increased supplies a priority.

So the formula was pooled among a few other firms, who grouped under the title of SOBAC (Society of British Aircraft Manufacturers).

SOBAC had offices in Surbiton, headed by Wallace Barr's chief assistant, W J "Shilly" Shilcock. It operated throughout the war.

Then it was dissolved, and the component firms went their separate ways.

Wallace Barr was not there to celebrate peace, and the part his firm had played in securing victory.

A few months previously a stray bomb landed in front of his home in the "safe" country quiet of Wentworth, and he and his wife were killed.

The death of Wallace Barr at 55 was a heavy blow. But his firm continued with "Shilly" Shilcock and former chief technician Harold Lazell as joint managing directors.

Wallace Barr's orphaned son, Aubrey, joined Cellon as an apprentice in 1949 and was its managing director from 1960 to 1963.

Meanwhile, the company had been acquired by the Courtauld Group in 1958, which enabled the size and scope of the Kingston plant to be much increased.

Many hundreds of locals worked at Cellon; and its frontage - designed in a rural domestic style which belied the high-tech activities behind - became a familiar landmark.

So it was a sad day when Cellon left Kingston in 1985, and was replaced by the St George business park.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.