John Dickinson Stationery

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Advertisement from John Dickinson & Co. with the "Lion Brand" logo Advertisment from the former paper company John Dickinson & Co. with its company logo "Lion Brand".jpg
Advertisement from John Dickinson & Co. with the "Lion Brand" logo
Founder John Dickinson John Dickinson - Paper manufacturer.jpg
Founder John Dickinson
Croxley Paper Mills being demolished in 1982 Croxley Paper Mills from Common Moor (geograph 3769194).jpg
Croxley Paper Mills being demolished in 1982
The Basildon Bond clock at Apsley Mill Basildon Bond Clock Apsley.png
The Basildon Bond clock at Apsley Mill
Dickinson's former Apsley Mill, now redeveloped as a residential site Pedestrian Footbridge at Apsley - geograph.org.uk - 507037.jpg
Dickinson's former Apsley Mill, now redeveloped as a residential site
A Lion Brand electric delivery van in 1959 Old photo of an electricar outside Croxley House in Wharfdale Road - geograph.org.uk - 1473279.jpg
A Lion Brand electric delivery van in 1959

John Dickinson Stationery Limited was a leading English stationery company founded in southwest Hertfordshire. In the 19th century, the company pioneered a number of innovations in papermaking. It became part of Dickinson Robinson Group in 1966; after changes of ownership, the John Dickinson brand was retired in 2008.

Contents

History

John Dickinson began his business life as a stationer in the City of London in 1804. [1] [2] But around 1802 he had already started to experiment with papermaking machinery and obtained a first patent for cutting paper in 1807. [3] Two years later Dickinson patented a new continuous mechanized papermaking process. [4] In the same year he gained financial backing from George Longman, whose family controlled the Longman publishing firm, and formed a new company, called Longman & Dickinson. In addition a considerable sum of money was borrowed from the printer and MP Andrew Strahan (1749–1831). [5]

Dickinson bought his first paper mill at Apsley, Hertfordshire (Apsley Mill, a former flour mill) in 1809, and a second nearby (Nash Mill, formerly a mediaeval corn-mill) in 1811; both took water from the Grand Junction Canal (opened in 1800 and now part of the Grand Union Canal) which also provided transport for materials and product. [6] Between 1828 and 1830 he built a third mill at Croxley, also on the canal. [7]

The mill-house at Nash Mill, called Nash House, became the family home of Dickinson and his new wife Ann (née Grover), whose father Harry Grover supported this business development through his Hemel Hempstead Bank (now part of Lloyds Bank) in Hemel Hempstead. Soon Nash Mills was renowned for its production of tough thin paper for Samuel Bagster's "Pocket Reference Bible". [8] A major fire in 1813 was a setback, but, being covered by insurance, enabled redevelopment towards large scale production. [7]

Later in the 19th century, Sir John Evans and his son Lewis Evans (whose elder brother was the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans) both managed the company. After John Evans had given up his partnership in the company in 1885, it was formally incorporated as John Dickinson & Co. Limited the following year, with a capital of £500,000. At the same time, the company started to concentrate more on the stationery side of the business, since papermaking was no longer profitable. The Apsley plant was reconstructed and concentrated on making envelopes, while paper production was transferred to the more modern Croxley Mill. [9]

John Dickinson & Co. Ltd had their own engineering department at Nash Mills until 1888, when it was gradually transferred to Apsley Mill; by 1903 the department was merely a repair shop. At the end of the 19th century, Nash Mill, which was small and had a reputation for independence, experienced a drop in profitability. Continuous minor changes were implemented until 1926, when it was expanded, remodelled and refurbished. The Lion Brand was adopted as the company logo in 1910. [7]

Basildon Bond

Basildon Bond stationery Basildon Bond stationery.jpg
Basildon Bond stationery

The Basildon Bond brand of stationery was created by Millington and Sons in 1911. [10] The brand is named after Basildon Park, where some of Millington's directors were staying, [11] and they liked the alliteration of "Basildon" and "bond". [10] Millington & Sons was acquired by John Dickinson in 1918, who then took over the Basildon Bond brand. [12] The name "Basildon Bond" was used by comedian Russ Abbot for one of his characters. [13]

Innovations

John Dickinson patented a method of papermaking in June 1809 that rendered his rivals' techniques (principally the Fourdrinier machine) obsolete. In 1850, the company started mechanical envelope manufacturing, with gummed envelopes for the first time. The production of fine rag paper on electrically driven machines was a successful innovation at Nash Mill. [14]

Second World War

The company produced various paper and cardboard products for the war effort, and also branched out into engineering, producing items such as fuel tanks for long range fighter aircraft, 20 mm cannon shells, aircraft fuel pumps, magnetos and spark plugs. The company made the foil strips codenamed Window used by the RAF to blind enemy radar. [15]

Dickinson Robinson Group

Dickinson Robinson Group Ltd (DRG) was formed out of E. S. & A. Robinson Packaging of Bristol and John Dickinson & Co Ltd. in 1966, creating one of the world's largest stationery and packaging companies. In 1989, the asset-stripper Roland Franklin (Pembridge Investments) acquired DRG (by now including the Royal Sovereign group acquired in 1978) in a leveraged buyout worth £900 million. [16]

Fate

Pembridge Investments carved the Dickinson Robinson Group up and sold its parts for a profit to various other companies:

Frogmore Paper Mill

Just north of the former Apsley Mill site in Hemel Hempstead is Frogmore Paper Mill, the world's oldest mechanised paper mill. It was here that Bryan Donkin first demonstrated the papermaking machine he developed for the Fourdrinier brothers. It is now operated by a conservation and education charitable trust. [19]

Black n' Red

'Black n' Red' book with side binding Black n' red notepad.JPG
'Black n' Red' book with side binding

Black n' Red, a brand of books and pads of paper produced by John Dickinson Stationery Limited, featured a striking black and red design. The front and back covers of such books are black, with the text "Black n' Red" written in red in the bottom right corner of the cover. The spine or bind is also red. These books are now distributed by the Oxford brand within the Hamelin Group. [20]

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References

  1. "Bicentenary: 1804-2004 The History of John Dickinson". John Dickinson Stationery. 2004. Archived from the original on 12 February 2004. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 "1804-2008 The History of John Dickinson Stationery". Hamelin. Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. Evans 1955, p. 9.
  4. Evans 1955, p. 10.
  5. Evans 1955, pp. 12–14.
  6. "Grand Junction Canal". frogmorepapermill.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 "John Dickinson & Co Ltd". Sir John Evans Centenary Project. Ashmolean Museum. 2009. Archived from the original on 20 November 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  8. Gadd, Ian Anders; Robbins, Keith; Eliot, Simon; Louis, William Roger (2013). History of Oxford University Press: Volume II 1780 to 1896. Oxford University Press. p. 241. ISBN   978-0199543151.
  9. Evans 1955, pp. 132, 133, 135.
  10. 1 2 Room, Adrian (1983). Dictionary of trade name origins . London: Routledge. pp.  37. ISBN   0-7102-0174-5.
  11. Basildon Bond. "History". Basildon Bond. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
  12. "Basildon Bond History". 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  13. Sherrie Hewson (4 March 2011). "14". Behind the Laughter. HarperCollins. p. 77. ISBN   9780007412631.
  14. Hemel Hempstead Local History and Records Society (1981). History of Hemel Hempstead. Hemel Hempstead: Charter Trustees of Hemel Hempstead. pp. 106–107. ISBN   0-9502743-1-3.
  15. "Dickinsons at War | the Dacorum Heritage Trust Ltd". Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  16. Hammond, Ed (18 January 2015). "Martin Franklin, Jarden: a repentant corporate raider". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  17. "Sappi to close down its loss-making Nash mill". Print Week. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  18. "John Dickinson and Co". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  19. Stanyon, Michael (2022). Following the Paper Trail: In Hertfordshire's Gade Valley. England: APT. p. 43. ISBN   978-1-909851-06-1.
  20. "Oxford Black n' Red". www.my-oxford.com. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.

Further reading

51°38′42″N0°26′17″W / 51.645°N 0.438°W / 51.645; -0.438