Dowson, Taylor and Co
of Blackfriars, Manchester
of 19 to 21 Queen Victoria Street, London
1883 William Mather, while on a visit to the United States, secured the sole rights from Frederick Grinnell to market the Grinnell automatic sprinklers in all parts of the world except North America. Initially through a sub-licence to the firm of Dowson and Taylor and then through Mather and Platt itself, he used this event to mark the beginning of yet another side of the firm's activities, the foundation of the Fire Department.
1884 Mr. Ralph Dowson in partnership with John Taylor established the firm in Bolton, which was the first to introduce the automatic fire-extinguishing system.
1887 Patent sealed, week ending 17 May: Mr. Ralph Dowson and John Taylor of Bolton, for improvements in automatic fire protection sprinklers.[1]
1888 Became Dowson, Taylor and Co Ltd of Manchester
Mather then involved John Wormald, an insurance industry expert on the risk of fire and the subsequent use of Fire Protection - this brought together the elements for a major collaboration. Mather and Platt Ltd became the father of a world-wide industry, especially in Fire Protection.
1899 Mather and Platt was registered as a public company, to take over the business of mechanical, electrical and hydraulic engineers Mather and Platt, and of fire engineers Dowson, Taylor and Co. [2]
For much more information, see here.