In 1844 Richard Cory's two eldest sons, John and Richard (born 1830), joined him in the business, which was renamed Richard Cory & Sons, and from 1859, when the father retired, as Cory Brothers. The firm's shipping and coal-exporting business steadily increased, and the universal demand for South Wales steam coal for navigation led John Cory to conceive the idea of establishing foreign coal depots around the world, one of the earliest being established at Port Said on the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.
