Thomas Potterton
Factory at Wandsworth
1850 Thomas Potterton's father started a contracting business
Thomas took over his father's business and developed the use of gas for heating
1904 first gas boiler introduced[1]. Heating a large swimming pool in Piccadilly, London, was convincing evidence of the effectiveness of this new form of heating[2]
1946 Thomas De La Rue and Co acquired Thomas Potterton (Heating Engineers) as the basis for a new business in gas water heaters. [3]. De La Rue leased additional factories at Gateshead, which would be used for production, and Elstree, which would mainly be used for development.
1958 The Potterton division of De La Rue made Potterton Boilers
1958 Launch of oil-fired boilers was badly affected by the Suez Crisis[4]
1963 Started to market pressed steel radiators, made to Potterton's specification by Fisher and Ludlow[5]
1973 De La Rue sold the Potterton central heating operation to Birmid Qualcast[6]
See Also