Doulton: England (United Kingdom)

John Doulton (1793-1873) after competing his apprenticeship at the age of 22 in 1815, partnered with John Watts and Martha Jones. Martha was the owner of a small pottery in Vauxhall Walk following the death of her husband. The business was trading as Jones, Watts & Doulton until in 1820 when Mrs Jones retired. The partnership was then dissolved and became Doulton and Watts with premises in the High Street, Lambeth. Doulton & Watts followed the practice of many local potteries at that time in manufacturing salt-glazed stoneware storage and drinking vessels. John Doulton had eight children, and his second son, Henry Doulton (1820-1897), became the driving force in the family business and is widely credited for bringing the company to pre-eminence. Five brothers worked in the company, but it was Henry's driving force through experimentation with glazing techniques that resulted in their greatest achievements. Henry Doulton served an apprenticeship and learned all aspects of the pottery trade. As with many Victorians he studied chemistry and physics in his spare time and this stood him in good stead for developing new glazes for the Lambeth pottery. Population growth during the 19th century coupled with the lack of efficient sanitation caused outbreaks of disease throughout all levels of the population. Reformers around the middle of the century advocated the use of glazed stoneware pipes for sewerage and house drains. Much of these probably exist to this day. The ever enterprising Henry persuaded his father and a younger brother to invest in a separate company in 1846 to produce these items and so Henry Doulton and Company started trading in Lambeth High Street. Such was the demand for these products that further pipe factories were opened in Lancashire and the West Midlands. Further diversification was into sanitary ware items including a stoneware water closet. The world's first glazed ceramic kitchen sink was developed and this side of the business grew rapidly. The first major display of Doulton wares was at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. Doulton and Watts showed their ceramic equipment for the chemical industry and the water filters containing purifying blocks of carbon, often in very ornate and decorative styles. Many other items were displayed including industrial ceramics such as insulators for the bourgeoning electrical power industry. John Watts retired in 1853 and Henry Doulton & Company merged with Doulton and Watts to form a single trading company to be known as Doulton & Company. Lambeth Pottery London, S. E. and Burslem, Staffordshire. Manufacturer of accumulators, porous cells, battery jars, insulators in stoneware and white earthenware, knobs for tops of street lamps, caps for telegraph posts, porous plates (round and square), pipes with ground joints for preservation of electric wires underground, Slater Lewis's patent self-binding insulators, crucibles and general chemical ware. Awarded only metal at the International Electric Exhibition, London, 1882. Contractors to the Postmaster-General and Indian Government. (J. A. Berly's British, American and Continental Electrical Directory and Advertiser, 1883). The 1883 Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review (London) stated they were making the Slater Lewis self-binding (screw-top) insulator.

In 1956 Doulton bought the established API (Australian Porcelain Insulators Pty.) and renamed it DIA (Doulton Insulators Australia Pty. Ltd.).

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