John Hall (5 September 1765 – 7 January 1836) was an English

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

and mechanical engineer, who, in 1785, founded the

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

-based engineering company which became J & E Hall, today a prominent supplier of

refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...

machinery, and part of the

Daikin is a Japanese multinational air conditioning manufacturing company headquartered in Osaka. It has operations in Japan, China, Australia, the United States, India, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Daikin is th ...

group. During Hall's lifetime, he helped mechanise the

papermaking Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is made using industrial machinery, while handmade paper survives as a speciali ...

industry, co-founded the first UK

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container ( jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, althoug ...

firm, and developed

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

s for land and marine use.

Early career

Born in Whitchurch, Hampshire, John was the second son of a millwright, William Hall (1710–1794), who had previously worked in Dartford, but was employed at the Portal family's paper mill in Laverstoke, Hampshire. John Hall moved to Dartford in April 1784, and was employed by a Mr T H Saunders to repair a mill on the River Darent in Hawley. Saunders urged Hall to set up his own business, repairing and maintaining machinery used in corn, paper, oil and powder mills in and around Dartford, and in 1785 Hall opened a workshop in Lowfield Street in Dartford.

Bryan Donkin Bryan Donkin FRS FRAS (22 March 1768 – 27 February 1855) developed the first paper making machine and created the world's first commercial canning factory. These were the basis for large industries that continue to flourish today. Bryan D ...

was an early apprentice, in 1792.

Ventures with Donkin

Around 1800, the firm moved to larger premises in Waterside (now Hythe Street) on land which had once formed part of Dartford Priory. Through his association with Donkin, now involved in the area's

industry, Hall helped a partnership with the Fourdrinier brothers ( Henry and Sealy) and John Gamble, to make paper machines, installed in

Frogmore Paper Mill Frogmore Paper Mill is a working paper mill situated in Apsley, Hertfordshire, near Hemel Hempstead. The mill is on an island in the River Gade, which forms part of the Grand Union Canal. It is the oldest mechanical paper mill in the world. Histo ...

Apsley, Hertfordshire Apsley was a 19th-century mill village in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is a historic industrial site situated in a valley of the Chiltern Hills. It is positioned below the confluence of two permanent rivers, the Gade and Bulbourn ...

. Donkin, Hall and Gamble also collaborated on canning food in metal containers. Hall acquired

Peter Durand Peter Durand (21 October 1766 – 23 July 1822) was an English merchant who is widely credited with receiving the first patent for the idea of preserving food using tin cans. The patent (No 3372) was granted on August 25, 1810, by King George III ...

's patent in 1812 and after various experiments, Donkin, Hall and Gamble set up a canning factory in Blue Anchor Lane in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham ...

, the first cannery to use tinned iron containers. By late spring 1813 they were appointing agents on the south coast to sell the preserved food to outbound ships, and the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of i ...

placed large orders with the firm of Donkin, Hall and Gamble for tinned meat. Hall left the canning firm partnership in 1819, and the firm later merged into

Crosse & Blackwell Crosse & Blackwell is a British food brand. The original company was established in London in 1706, then was acquired by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell in 1830. It became independent until it was acquired by Swiss conglomerate Nestlé in 1960. ...

Iron works

As an iron foundry business, Hall's company subsequently built steam engines and gun carriages. In the early days of marine engineering, Hall designed and made the engines for S.S. ''Batavia'' (for the Steam Navigation Company), and, in 1836, the S.S. ''Wilberforce'' (built by Curling & Young at Blackwall for the Humber Union S.S. Company of

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

). The company also designed and patented (1835), the first

trunk engine Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in re ...

, fitted on board the paddle steamer "Dartford," built at

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

. Letterhead dating from the time of ''John Hall & Sons'' listed some of the company's products: :"'steam-engines on Woolff 'sic''and Boulton & Watts principle; engines for steam vessels on improved principles; rolling mills for iron, copper, lead and zinc; patent steam presses for oil mills; roll bars and plates for paper engines; machinery for plate-glass works; oil, gunpowder, bark, corn, sugar and saw mills, hydraulic and screw presses, diving bells, pumps, cranes, etc.etc. 'fitted up in the best manner'."

Association with Richard Trevithick

J & E Hall is strongly associated with the late career (and death) of steam engine pioneer

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...

. In 1832, he was invited by John Hall to work on a steam engine at Dartford, and lodged at The Bull (today The Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel) in Dartford. In early 1833, Trevithick was taken ill with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

and died at the Bull on the morning of 22 April 1833. Colleagues at Hall's works made a collection for his funeral expenses, acted as bearers, and paid a night watchman to guard his grave at night to deter

grave robber Grave robbery, tomb robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a grave, tomb or crypt to steal commodities. It is usually perpetrated to take and profit from valuable artefacts or personal property. A related act is body snatching, a term ...

Family life and church

On 17 December 1791, John Hall married Sarah Stainton, a daughter of local Dartford landowner Peter Brames. He had two sons John and Edward, the latter of which would head the business subsequently known as J & E Hall. John Hall (senior) was the principal founder of the first

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

church in Dartford, converting two cottages at the corner of Priory Lane, Waterside, into a church, which opened on New Year's Day, 1794. This building soon became too small and a new building on the east side of Waterside was erected in 1798, at the cost of £700, and then further enlarged in 1819. Hall and his family also proved educational opportunities, with a Methodist Sunday School opened in a cottage which formed part of the ironworks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, John 1765 births 1836 deaths English engineers Millwrights People from Whitchurch, Hampshire People from Dartford English mechanical engineers People of the Industrial Revolution