British Berkefeld/Doulton Water Filters
Berkefeld Brand built by Doulton
The need to create a safer water drinking supply was first recognized in 1835 in London, England. Queen Victoria realized that unclean water led to cholera and typhoid epidemics for her royal subjects. She turned to John Doulton, of Royal Doulton fame, and asked that he use his knowledge of ceramics to create stoneware that could serve as a gravity water filter.
This royal beginning improved in 1862 when John’s son, Henry, introduced a carbon water filter to provide an efficient, easily renewable, purifying medium. This coincided fortuitously with the great Louis Pasteur’s advancements in understandings of bacteria. It showed how porous ceramic can filter out those dangerous, tiny organisms, culminating in the discovery of gravity-fed water filtration
By 1901, the now Sir Henry Doulton and Royal Doulton were gaining in world-wide popularity for use in hospitals, laboratories and residential water filtration systems. The company continued to modify and improve its ceramic filters to make them self-sterilizing, and registered the new trade name, “British Berkefeld.” Relief organizations soon realized the benefits of using these filters to provide clean water to over 140 countries world-wide.
