Deptford Chemical Works
1838 Frank Clarke Hills set up as a manufacturing chemist at Deptford, making sulphuric acid as and other products.
c.1840 Frank Clarke Hills developed a steam road vehicle at the Chemical Works
1844 Hills opened a second factory downstream at Greenwich and for the next half century the firm continued to prosper, owning also a flour mill and chemical manure works at the Greenwich site.
1846 Hills patented a method for removing ammonia from coalgas.
1849 Explosion at Hill's Chemical Works at Deptford[1]
1849 Frank Clarke Hills, of Deptford, gained a patent on improved method of manufacturing gas[2]
1858 F. C. Hills, chemical manufacturer, Creek St, Deptford[3]
1891 Frank Clarke Hills and Co. (chemical), (T.A. Davies manager), Marsh Lane, Greenwich, Surrey. Listed as manure manufacturer or merchant[4]
1892 Hills died. His firm survived him to about the end of the century.
By 1893 the business was F. C. Hills and Co[5]