John Hall

John Hall (5 September 1765 – 7 January 1836) was an English millwright and mechanical engineer, who, in 1785, founded the Dartford-based engineering company which became J & E Hall, today a prominent supplier of refrigeration machinery, and part of the Daikin group. During Hall's lifetime, he helped mechanise the papermaking industry, co-founded the first UK canning firm, and developed steam engines for land and marine use.

Early career Born in Whitchurch, Hampshire, John was the second son of a millwright, William Hall (1710–1794), who had previously worked in Dartford, but was employed at the Portal family's paper mill in Laverstoke, Hampshire. John Hall moved to Dartford in April 1784, and was employed by a Mr T H Saunders to repair a mill on the River Darent in Hawley. Saunders urged Hall to set up his own business, repairing and maintaining machinery used in corn, paper, oil and powder mills in and around Dartford, and in 1785 Hall opened a workshop in Lowfield Street in Dartford.

Ventures with Donkin Around 1800, the firm moved to larger premises in Waterside (now Hythe Street) on land which had once formed part of Dartford Priory. installed in Frogmore Paper Mill in Apsley, Hertfordshire. and after various experiments, Donkin, Hall and Gamble set up a canning factory in Blue Anchor Lane in Bermondsey, the first cannery to use tinned iron containers. By late spring 1813 they were appointing agents on the south coast to sell the preserved food to outbound ships, In the early days of marine engineering, Hall designed and made the engines for S.S. Batavia (for the Steam Navigation Company), and, in 1836, the S.S. Wilberforce (built by Curling & Young at Blackwall for the Humber Union S.S. Company of Hull). He had two sons John and Edward, the latter of which would head the business subsequently known as J & E Hall.

John Hall (senior) was the principal founder of the first Wesleyan church in Dartford, converting two cottages at the corner of Priory Lane, Waterside, into a church, which opened on New Year's Day, 1794.