Carnegie Chemicals (Welwyn) Ltd was founded in WGC in 1936 by Donald Carnegie, son of R. B. Carnegie who originally set up Carnegie Brothers in London in 1911. The WGC firm produced bismuth salts, chrysarobin, citrates, ephedrine, santonin and strychnine all of which were sold to and distributed by Carnegie Brothers. During WWII the government asked for a shadow company to be created to manufacture quinine from cinchona bark. To achieve this another company was formed in 1941 under the name Carnegie Quinine Works Ltd. This was followed by Carnegie Organics Ltd, then in 1953 the existing companies were amalgamated into Carnegies of Welwyn Ltd.