Ranks Hovis McDougall Ltd

The material includes correspondence with the Financial Secretary, Imperial College, re administration of the research grant as well as research reports, arrangements for meetings and visits, and personal correspondence with Lord Rank and his newphew Joseph.

Chain was also a member of the Advisory Committee on Nutrition for the Rank Prize Funds (see E.149-E.155), and collaborated with Rank Precision Industries Ltd. in the development of an automatic amino acid analyser designed by a member of the Biochemistry Department of Imperial College (see D.138, F.312, F.313)

Correspondence 1967-69 contains several references to a gift of £50,000 made by Lord Rank towards the establishment of a second Chair of Biochemistry in Chain's Department at Imperial College. The College was unable to raise the additional money needed for the financing of a Chair so an agreement was reached with Lord Rank that the money would be made available to Chain through Imperial College to use for Research Fellowships. Chain used only the interest for this purpose, leaving the principal intact, and in 1973 he approached the Rank Trustees for a further donation to make up the amount needed for the endownment of a second Chair. For correspondence concerning this episode and related events, see D.43-D.74.

The following papers document some of Chain's collaborative activities with the company including a consultancy arrangement and participation in a research project on microbial proteins, particularly Penicillium notatum-crysogenum (coded A 3/5).