William Clowes Ltd.

Last updated

William Clowes Ltd. is a British printing company founded in London in 1803 by William Clowes. It grew from a small, one press firm to one of the world's largest printing companies in the mid-19th century. The company merged with Caxton Press, operated by William Moore in Beccles, Suffolk in the late 19th century and concentrated its business in the town following World War II. It is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of directories and reference books and continues to operate out of its large printing factory at Ellough near Beccles as part of the CPI UK group. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Clowes established the firm on 21 October 1803 at 2 Villiers Street, London next to the Strand. The company was small in the beginning, having only one printing press and one assistant. [3] Clowes worked for three days and nights to finish his first job, which satisfied the customer. Business soon grew from word of mouth, as customers were impressed with the company's speed and accuracy.

Expansion and steam powered presses

The company expanded in 1823 with the purchase of Northumberland Court and the installation of its first steam-powered presses (made by Applegath and Cowper). [3] However, the new noisy presses disturbed the Duke of Northumberland, whose palace was nearby, and he ordered the company to cease operation. When Clowes refused, the case was tried in court in June 1824, where the printer won with the help of his attorney John Copley. [3] [4] Clowes agreed to move the presses though in exchange for a sum paid by the Duke. The exchange proved fruitful for Clowes, as the bankruptcy of Archibald Constable caused a short period of bad business that afflicted the London publishing industry and the Duke's compensation helped offset the large losses Clowes experienced during this time. [4]

In 1826, the company purchased and moved to premises on Duke Street that had previously been occupied by Applegath and Cowper. The firm, which was renamed at William Clowes and Sons in 1839, grew rapidly, and by 1843 was one of the largest printing companies in the world: it operated 24 presses and had its own type and stereotype foundries, 2500 tonnes of stereotyped plates (at the time worth at least 500,000 pounds sterling), and a collection of 80,000 woodcuts. [4] In 1847, Clowes died, and three of his sons, William Clowes the younger (1807–1883), Winchester, and George, took over running the company. [3] In 1851, the company secured a large contract to print half a million catalogues for the Great Exhibition. The project involved the use of 50 tonnes of type, 30,000 reams of paper and three tonnes of ink. [5]

Merger with Caxton Press

In 1873, William Clowes the younger's eldest son, William Archibald Clowes (1843–1904), and his nephew William Charles Knight Clowes (1838–1917) entered a partnership with William Moore, who operated the Caxton Press in Beccles, Suffolk. Although Moore suddenly disappeared, leaving a considerable debt, the firm survived and was re-established as Clowes and Clowes. It grew from operating four presses to 15 in just three years. In 1880, Clowes and Clowes merged with William Clowes & Sons to form William Clowes Ltd. [5]

Relocation to Beccles

The company continued operating into the 20th century, but suffered a setback during World War II, when the Blitz destroyed its Duke Street offices. Following the war, the firm decided to concentrate on expanding its presses in Beccles. In the late 1970s, computerised phototypesetting was introduced to the company which has continued to invest in digital technology. The company sold its old Beccles premises in 2003 and moved to a new, custom-built factory at Ellough on the outskirts of Beccles in 2004. [6]

Related Research Articles

Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur, the classic English-language chronicle of the Arthurian legend, published by William Caxton in 1485. Malory’s identity has never been confirmed, but the likeliest candidate is Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. Much of his life history is obscure, but Caxton classifies him as a ‘knight prisoner’, apparently reflecting a criminal career, for which there is ample evidence, though he was also a prisoner-of-war during the Wars of the Roses, in which he supported both sides at different times.

Beccles Human settlement in England

Beccles is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. The town is shown on the milestone as 109 miles (175 km) from London via the A145 and A12 roads, 98 miles (158 km) northeast of London as the crow flies, 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Norwich, and 33 miles (53 km) north northeast of the county town of Ipswich. Nearby towns include Lowestoft to the east and Great Yarmouth to the northeast. The town lies on the River Waveney on the edge of The Broads National Park.

William Clowes was a printer who developed the use of steam-powered printing presses in the industry. He founded the printing firm which became William Clowes Ltd. in London in 1803.

George Clymer (1754?–1834) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an American engineer and inventor. Around 1813 he invented the Columbian Printing Press. This was a cast-iron, lever-operated replacement for the wooden screw presses which had been in use in Europe since the fifteenth century and in North America since the seventeenth.

William Caxton 15th-century English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer

William Caxton was an English merchant, diplomat, and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer was the first English retailer of printed books.

William Cowper (1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist

William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist. One of the most popular poets of his time, Cowper changed the direction of 18th century nature poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge called him "the best modern poet", whilst William Wordsworth particularly admired his poem Yardley-Oak.

Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland English nobleman and military commander

Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland was an English nobleman and military commander in the lead up to the Wars of the Roses. He was the son of Henry "Hotspur" Percy, and the grandson of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland. His father and grandfather were killed in different rebellions against Henry IV in 1403 and 1408 respectively, and the young Henry spent his minority in exile in Scotland. Only after the death of Henry IV in 1413 was he reconciled with the Crown, and in 1416 he was created Earl of Northumberland.

Augustus Applegath was an English printer and inventor known for the development of the first workable vertical-drum rotary printing press.

Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland English aristocrat, hereditary peer and largely rural landowner (born 1956)

Ralph George Algernon Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland,, styled Lord Ralph Percy until 1995, is a British hereditary peer and rural landowner and current head of the House of Percy.

Sir John Leman High School is a coeducational 11–18 secondary school with academy status serving part of the Waveney region in north Suffolk, England. The school is located on the western edge of the town of Beccles and serves the surrounding area, including Worlingham. Pupils from Norfolk villages such as Gillingham and Broome also sometimes attend the school. The school has approximately 1,400 pupils, including a sixth form of around 260 students.

Sotterley Human settlement in England

Sotterley, originally Southern-lea from its situation south of the river, is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the English county of Suffolk, located approximately 4 miles (6 km) south-east of Beccles and 1.5 miles (2 km) east of Willingham St Mary and Shadingfield. The parish is primarily agricultural with a dispersed population of 113 at the 2011 census. The parish council operates to administer jointly the parishes of Shadingfield, Willingham St Mary, Sotterley and Ellough.

Beccles Airfield airport in the United Kingdom

Beccles Airfield, also known as Beccles Airport or Beccles Aerodrome, is located in Ellough, 2 NM southeast of Beccles in the English county of Suffolk. Built during the second world war, it has operated as a heliport servicing the North Sea oil and gas industry and currently operates as a base for private flights, flight training and parachuting.

Events from the 1470s in England.

Ellough Human settlement in England

Ellough is a civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk, located approximately 3 miles (5 km) south-east of Beccles. The area is sparsely populated with a mid-2005 population estimate of 40. Neighbouring villages include North Cove, Weston, Sotterley and Henstead. The parish council operates to administer jointly the parishes of Shadingfield, Willingham St Mary, Sotterley and Ellough.

Weston, Suffolk Human settlement in England

Weston is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk located approximately 2 miles (3 km) south of Beccles in the East Suffolk district. The parish lies either side of the A145 and is crossed by the Ipswich to Lowestoft railway line. Neighbouring villages include Ellough, Ringsfield, Willingham St Mary and Shadingfield. The village is largely dispersed with a mid-2005 population estimate for the parish of 230, measured at 257 in the 2011 Census.

The Surtees Society is a text publication society and registered charity based in Durham in northern England. The society was established on 27 May 1834 by James Raine, following the death of the renowned County Durham antiquarian Robert Surtees. Raine and other former friends of Surtees created the society to honour his memory and carry on his legacy, with the focus on publishing documents relating to the region between the River Humber and Firth of Forth in the east and the River Mersey and the River Clyde in the west, the region that had once constituted the kingdom of Northumbria.

Coal mining in the United Kingdom Fossil fuel from underground

Coal mining in the United Kingdom dates back to Roman times and occurred in many different parts of the country. Britain's coalfields are associated with Northumberland and Durham, North and South Wales, Yorkshire, the Scottish Central Belt, Lancashire, Cumbria, the East and West Midlands and Kent. After 1970, coal mining quickly collapsed and had practically disappeared by the 21st century. The consumption of coal – mostly for electricity – fell from 157 million tonnes in 1970 to 18 million tonnes in 2016, of which 77% was imported from Colombia, Russia and the United States. All of the 4 million tonnes of coal mined in the UK in 2016 were from open-cast coal mines. Employment in coal mines fell from a peak of 1,191,000 in 1920 to 695,000 in 1956, 247,000 in 1976, 44,000 in 1993, and to 2,000 in 2015.

All Saints Church, Ellough Church in Suffolk, England

All Saints Church is a redundant Anglican church in the parish of Ellough, Suffolk, England. The church is medieval in origin and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in an isolated position on the top of a low hill, some 2.5 miles (4 km) to the south-east of Beccles.

Hazell, Watson and Viney British printing company

Hazell, Watson and Viney was an English printing and publishing firm with works in Aylesbury and operating from 1839 to c. 1991.

Edward Shickle Cowper (1790–1852) was an English printing engineer, inventor, and academic.

References

  1. ↑ William Clowes, CPI UK. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  2. ↑ Locations, CPI UK. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Weedon.A (2004a) 'Clowes, William (1779–1847)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (available online), accessed 2011-06-25.
  4. 1 2 3 Smiles.S (1884) 'William Clowes: introducer of book-printing by steam' in Men of invention and industry (available online at Project Gutenberg). Retrieved 2011-06-25.
  5. 1 2 Weedon.A (2004b) 'Clowes, William, the younger (1807–1883)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, (available online), accessed 2011-06-25.
  6. ↑ Staff call for safe route to work, BBC news website, 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2011-06-25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.