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Early history

An early geologist 1909 - 1924 From struggles to success

To find oil in Persia, George Reynolds and his caravan of explorers had lived through seven years of harsh heat, gastric illnesses and disappointments. The next seven years would be no less difficult for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which would one day become BP.

Hard work and community in an unforgiving place



Mules pulling piplelines and picture of a Persian native with his mule


Dr young (left) with the British Consul and his wife in Persia sitting around a car

The company’s British contingent included a medical doctor, Morris Young. He had come to Persia to look after the original exploration team and had found himself giving medical care to most of the people who lived near the drilling site. From a tent at Masjid-i-Suleiman, he went on to found a hospital there and another at Abadan.

These would become two of the major medical centres in southwest Persia, helping the area cope with epidemic diseases and the problems of poor water quality. As for Dr Young, within Persia he would become something of a legend in his own time.

Back from the brink of bankruptcy (again)







- Winston Churchill

The resolution passed resoundingly, and the UK government became a major shareholder in the company. Churchill had ended Anglo-Persian’s cash crisis, and no one had long to quietly ponder the long-term implications of a company entwining its financial interests with a political entity.

Two weeks later, an assassin killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Six weeks after that, Germany attacked France. The Great War had begun. By its end, war without oil would be unimaginable.

Two big purchases and a roaring decade

Despite its name, the British Petroleum brand was originally created by a German firm as a way of marketing its products in Britain. During the war, the British government seized the company’s assets, and the Public Trustee sold them to Anglo-Persian in 1917.


Early Anglo - Persian executives Early Anglo-Persian executives. Left to right: Lord Strathcona, Lord Charles Greenway, John Cadman

That same year, with the war in its final throes, the Royal Navy complained that the oil from Anglo-Persian was causing engine problems in colder climates. Anglo-Persian bought an 18th-century mansion at Sunbury-on-Thames, near London, and set up a research laboratory in the basement to address such scientific challenges.

Over the next decade, gas and electricity would largely replace kerosene for home heating, gasoline-fuelled delivery vehicles would challenge the railways for freight, and the age of the automobile would truly begin. These social changes would open a door that Anglo-Persian would step adeptly through, expanding its sales both in Britain and in mainland Europe.