J. Defries and Sons
of Gravel Lane and Houndsditch, London, water filters, oil lamps, etc
1856 Patent application by Moss Defries, of Houndsditch, in respect of the invention of "improvements in moderator and other lamps." Another patent application was by Coleman Defries, of the firm of Jonas Defries and Sons, Houndsditch, in respect of the invention of " improvements in the roof lamps of railway carriages."[1]
1862 FIRST CLASS PRIZE MEDALS for their lamps at LONDON, 1862; PARIS, 1867; GOLD MEDAL ...
1862 Defries and Son was also at this Houndsditch address.
1867 Patent application by Henry Defries, of the firm of Jonas Defries and Sons, of Houndsditch, in the city of London, Manufacturer, for an invention of "improvements in wick holders for lamps."—A communication to him from abroad from Joseph van Gelder, of Paris, in the Empire of France.[2]
1876 J. DEFRIES AND SONS, crystal chandelier and lamp manufacturers. WORKS: London and Birmingham. PRINCIPAL DEPOT AND SHOW-ROOMS, 147, Hounsditch , and 1,2, 3,6, Gravel Lane, London.[3]
Perhaps the oil lamp business was spun-out as Defries Safety Lamp and Oil Agency?
1889 July: Dissolution of the Partnership between Coleman Defries, Henry Defries, Moss Defries, and Wolf Defries, as Chandelier Manufacturers, at No. 147, Houndsditch, London, EC., under the style of J. Defries and Sons, as regards the said Moss Defries. Coleman Defries, Henry Defries, and Wolf Defries, will carry the business[4]
1889 October: Coleman Defries left the partnership[5]
c.1900 J.G. Defries & Sons (sic) designed and made a water filter, stoneware, following the Pasteur-Chamberland design.
This type of filter was invented in 1884 by Charles Chamberland (1851-1908), a French bacteriologist who worked with Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). He developed a porcelain filter that could be used to remove micro-organisms from pressurised water. Not only was it useful for sterilising techniques in the laboratory, it also filtered and purified water for drinking. Pasteur later modified the filter, which is why the design carries his name too. Filtering water was and is important as a number of diseases, such as cholera, can be transmitted by contaminated water.[6]