In 1818 John and William Henry Tilley established W.H. Tilley, in Stoke Newington, London. During WW1 Frederick Tilley started to use paraffin as a lamp fuel in pressurised containers. As soon as the war ended, work was started to set up a production plant at Hendon, just north of London, and the first commercial lamps were produced.Tilley lamps were to become so popular and widely used that the word Tilley came to be used in England to describe any make of pressure lamp. Their success was not confined to the UK, and over the many years their products have been exported and sold through agents in numerous countries.

Also known as the Tilley Lamp Company