<P> The first company to license the process was the Manchester firm of W & J Galloway, and they did so before Bessemer announced it at Cheltenham in 1856 . They are not included in his list of the four to whom he refunded the license fees . However, they subsequently rescinded their license in 1858 in return for the opportunity to invest in a partnership with Bessemer and others . This partnership began to manufacture steel in Sheffield from 1858, initially using imported charcoal pig iron from Sweden . This was the first commercial production . </P> <P> Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, a Londoner with a Welsh father, was an industrial chemist who decided to tackle the problem of phosphorus in iron, which resulted in the production of low grade steel . Believing that he had discovered a solution, he contacted his cousin, Percy Gilchrist, who was a chemist at the Blaenavon ironworks . The manager at the time, Edward Martin, offered Sidney equipment for large - scale testing and helped him draw up a patent that was taken out in May, 1878 . Sidney Gilchrist Thomas's invention consisted of using dolomite or sometimes limestone linings for the Bessemer converter rather than clay, and it became known as the' basic' Bessemer rather than the' acid' Bessemer process . An additional advantage was that the processes formed more slag in the converter, and this could be recovered and used very profitably as a phosphate fertilizer . </P> <P> Patents of such value did not escape criticism, and invalidity was urged against them on various grounds . But Bessemer was able to maintain them intact without litigation, though he found it advisable to buy up the rights of one patentee, Robert Forester Mushet . </P> <P> In the case of Mushet, he was assisted by the patent being allowed to lapse in 1859 through non-payment of fees . Mushet's procedure was not essential and Bessemer proved this in 1865 by exhibiting a series of steel samples made using his process alone, but the value of the procedure was shown by its near universal adoption in conjunction with the Bessemer process . Whether or not Mushet's patents could have been sustained is not known, but in 1866 Robert Mushet's 16 - year - old daughter travelled to London to confront Henry Bessemer at his offices, arguing that Bessemer's success was based on the results of her father's work . Bessemer decided to pay Mushet an annual pension of £ 300, a very considerable sum, which he paid for 25 years . </P>

Who discovered a way to make steel from iron