Biography of Johann Jacob Schweppes

Johann Jacob Schweppe (March 16, 1740 – November 18, 1821) was born in Witzenhausen in the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel. He was a son of city councilman.

He made a living as watchmaker and jeweler. Around 1767 he was a successful jeweler. Later he learned of Priestley’s method of dripping sulfuric acid onto limestone to produce carbon dioxide gas.

In 1783, Jacob Schweppe improved and patented the process for manufacturing carbonated water. When carbonated water sales outpaced his jewelry business Schweppe’s beverage company was born.

Nine years later he moved to London, England, where he soon began producing and selling his bottled beverage.  He opens his first mineral water business in Bristol, England in 1794.

The water was advertised from 1798 as good for gout, complaints of the bladder, stone and indigestion and for ‘invigorating the system and exalting the spirits’.

Jacob Schweppe ran the company until 1799, when he retired. In 1824, his daughter sold the last of the family’s share of Schweppes. The new owners kept the name.
Biography of Johann Jacob Schweppes