John Oakey (1813 – 10 January 1887) was an English inventor and founder of John Oakey & Sons Ltd. a manufacturer of

sandpaper upright=1.35, Sheets of sandpaper with different grit sizes (40 (coarse), 80, 150, 240, 600 (fine)). Sandpaper and glasspaper are names used for a type of coated abrasive that consists of sheets of paper or cloth with abrasive material glued to ...

and polishing materials. Oakey was apprenticed to a piano maker where he learnt to make sandpaper by glueing sand or powdered glass onto paper. He developed a better process suitable for mass-production and set up in business at

Walworth, London Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the O ...

in 1833, before moving his business to Wellington Mill at Westminster Bridge Road. He subsequently developed many wet and dry sand and

emery paper Emery paper is a type of abrasive paper or sandpaper, that can be used to abrade (remove material from) surfaces or mechanically finish a surface. Operations include deburring, polishing, paint removal, corrosion removal, sizing, etc. This i ...

s, and a range of polishing compounds including lead blacking, ''Wellington'' Knife Polish, Silversmith's Soap and Plate Powder, and furniture polishes. Advertisements for "Oakey's Knife Polish" were a common feature on buses and trams in the early twentieth century. He died in 1887 and was buried at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of L ...

. His business passed to his sons, Joseph and John, who took it public in 1893.

External links

Wellington Mill
(Lambeth landmark)
Friends of West Norwood Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakey, John 1813 births 1887 deaths Burials at West Norwood Cemetery English inventors