On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, John Doulton was taken into

partnership by the widow Martha Jones who had inherited from her late

husband a pottery in Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth, by the side of the Thames

river. Her foreman John Watts was included in the partnership and the new

firm became Jones, Watts and Doulton Company. John Doulton founded his

first pottery that same year, 1815, at Lambeth, England on the banks of the

Thames river.  The following symbol is the original Doulton Lambeth registration in England.

      The main products of the original company were ceramic busts, figurines,

canning jars and tableware. Influenced by the unrelenting progress of the

Industrial Revolution, Doulton placed equal emphasis on industrial

applications for ceramic technology. It was John Doulton's son, Henry,

however, who carried that tradition of the Lambeth pottery to its zenith.

     As early as 1827, Henry Doulton developed ceramic filters for removing

bacteria from drinking water.

"Offensive to the sight, disgusting to the imagination and destructive to the

health"

     This was how London drinking water, drawn from the Thames, was

described in a pamphlet published in 1827. The Thames was heavily

contaminated with raw sewage; cholera and typhoid epidemics were

rampant. The first Doulton® water filters were made using various earth and

clay materials. By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne, Doulton was

well established as a manufacturer of domestic and industrial products in a

fine stoneware body that bore comparison with any in Europe.

     In 1835, Queen Victoria recognized the present health dangers in her

drinking water and commissioned Doulton to produce a water filter for

the Royal household.

     Doulton created a gravity fed stoneware filter that combined the

technology of a ceramic filter with the artistry of a hand crafted

pottery water container. By 1846, the Lambeth factory was in

which Chadwick, and the great reformers of the day, brought to

metropolitan England. Without the hard work and foresight of Henry

Doulton that revolution would have been delayed by decades.

     Henry Doulton introduced the Doulton® Manganous Carbon water filter in 1862, the same

year that Louis Pasteur's experiments with bacteria conclusively exploded the myth of

spontaneous generation and proved that all microorganisms arise from other microorganisms.

Louis Pasteur's research into bacteria made it possible to focus the efforts of Doulton Filter's

Research and Development toward the creation of a porous ceramic capable of filtering out

these tiny organisms. With Pasteur's advancements in microbiology, Doulton's Research and

Development department, headed by Henry Doulton, created micro porous ceramic

(diatomaceous earth) cartridges capable of removing bacteria with better than 99%

efficiency.

In 1862, Doulton filters shown at the Kensington International Exhibition

proudly wore the Royal arms of Queen Victoria.

     In 1882 Henry Doulton acquired a small factory in the Midlands, motherland

of the Staffordshire potteries and the home of the Doulton Drinking Water

Purifier. In 1901, King Edward VII knighted Henry Doulton and in 1902 King

Edward VII conferred the double honor of the royal warrant and the

specific - as opposed to the assumed - right to use the title "Royal" for his

work on drinking water filtration.

     This Royal Warrant authorized the company to use the word ROYAL in

reference to its products. Along the way the honors were won at the great

international exhibitions in Chicago and Paris and the range of products

proliferated. Queen Victoria bestowed upon Doulton the right to embellish

each of its units with the ROYAL CREST.

 In 1906, Doulton introduced a filter that proved to be equal to the one

Louis Pasteur had developed in France. It was rapidly adopted by

hospitals, laboratories and for use in domestic water filtration throughout

the world. The popularity and effectiveness of even the early 20th century

designs has resulted in their continued use world wide. The range and

efficiency of Doulton® domestic water filters have been widely extended

over the years to meet the demands of increasingly sophisticated uses.

British Berkefeld® is a registered trade name of Doulton Company

DO NOT CONFUSE BERKEFELD WITH COMPANIES USING SIMILAR NAMES

British Berkefeld® was previously owned by Berkefeld-Filter, a German company 

that started manufacturing filters in the late 1800’s. In 1919, Berkefeld-Filter was

awarded to Slack & Brownlow as part of reparations by the League of Nations

after World War I, at that time the name was then changed to British Berkefeld®

to show the products were now of British manufacture. Slack & Brownlow were

then acquired by Portals Water Treatment (now Portacel) and in 1985 the 

domestic water filter division was acquired by Doulton Industrial Products, the

manufacturer of Royal Doulton® water filters.  

     Today the Doulton® and British Berkefeld® names are the preferred choice for

water purification products in world-wide locations where outbreaks of illness

are associated with unreliable water supplies.  

   NOW HERE IS WHERE THE MODERN DECEPTIONS HAVE CREPT IN ... there are people claiming the Berkefeld name and history who are selling products that are not manufactured by Doulton OR the Doulton Subsidiary British Berkefeld and are using deceptively similar names ... as i stated before ... i get the products i sell directly from Doulton and thus you know you are purchasing the products with high standards in design and manufacturing ... jim mccanney

Now for the final chapter in the Doulton history ... 

   Finally,  the modern Doulton stainless steel housing (pictured at left) uses up to 4 of the Doulton 7" white ceramic shell with carbon interior filter elements.  The 3 part ceramic filter element with inner carbon core is the ultimate evolution in design of the portable kitchen and emergency water filter.  The ceramic filter meets NSF standards requiring NO leaching of the filter element into the final water supply as well as the filtration standards for pathogens, chemicals such as chlorine and other harmful water born contaminants.  I also received an exclusive to sell the small personal "MINI" Doulton water filter (pictured at the right with one 7" Doulton filter element).  This highly portable unit is available exclusively to my audience.  It was originally designed for special forces use for their personal water supply when on operations. 

   You may now see why it is important today to show the true history of the gravity feed water filters and where the commonly used names came from and some of the misuse of names and history that is occurring today.  Due to issues occurring in the water filter industry I adopted the Doulton line of water filters to provide my customers with products of the oldest and most trusted name in the industry.  I procure my products directly from Doulton assuring you that the high standards and testing of products gives you the best cleanable gravity feed water filters in the world.

TO PURCHASE --->>    SECURE WEB ORDERING LINK AND MAIL ORDER INFORMATION