Jump to content

Henry Jones (baker)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bender235 (talk | contribs) at 22:52, 5 July 2016 (Biography: clean up; http->https (see this RfC) using AWB). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Henry Jones
Born1812
Monmouth, Wales
Died(1891-07-12)July 12, 1891
Court House, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales
OccupationBaker
Known forInventing self-raising flour

Henry Jones (1812 – 12 July 1891) was a baker in Bristol, England, who was responsible in 1845 for inventing self-raising flour. He established a family business called Henry Jones (Bristol) Ltd. His flour meant that hard tack could have been removed from sailors of the British Navy but the admiralty resisted for some years.

Biography

Jones was born in Monmouth, Wales and established a bakery in Broadmead, Bristol. He was granted a patent for self-raising flour in 1845, and by the end of 1846 its runaway success led to him being appointed purveyor of patent flour and biscuits to Queen Victoria. He was granted a patent in the USA on 1 May 1849,[1] and in 1852 the first gold medal for the new flour was issued to a Chicago firm using the Bristol formula.

It took Jones some years to convince the British Admiralty of the benefits of using the new flour in preference to the hard biscuits to which sailors were accustomed. Jones emphasised the benefits to the sailors of having fresh bread throughout their voyages.[2] Finally, in 1855, his flour was approved for use of participants in the Crimean War, partly at the behest of Florence Nightingale.[3]

From 1864, he lived at Court House, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, where he died in 1891.[4]

Archives

Documents regarding Henry Jones' patent for self-raising flour are held at Bristol Record Office (Ref. 29932) (online catalogue).

References

  1. ^ http://www.pat2pdf.org/patents/pat0006418.pdf
  2. ^ "https://books.google.com/books?id=UBVAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA409". The Lancet London vol 2 p.409. 1845. {{cite journal}}: External link in |title= (help)
  3. ^ Henry Jones Limited (Bristol) 1961 Archived 2006-11-16 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Some Memorial Inscriptions, Caldicot, Monmouthshire