You're in for a surprise:
The battery similar to the one we know was invented in 1800 by Volta. It was more the result of scientific curiousity, because they did not have that much electric gadgets in those days to say the least.
People had to stick to candles and oil-lamps for another 78 years after that, untill Edison created the first working (and lasting) light-bulb in 1878!
Even stranger, archaeologists have found artifacts and descriptions in Egypt, from which is suspected that the ancient Egyptians had already discovered a way to create electricity using lead, copper and acid in a clay jug. Naturally they had no clue what so ever what to do with the little shocks the device emitted, except jump-starting camels perhaps...
This remains a theory however, no solid proof of this invention exists so far (still an interesting tale).