History
The company was founded in Apsley Hertfordshire, in 1804 by John Dickinson, who invented a continuous mechanized paper-making process. Dickinson patented his ideas in 1809 and in the same year he gained financial backing from George Longman. He established paper mills at Apsley (a former flour mill), Nash Mill (formerly a mediaeval corn-mill) in 1811 and Croxley in Hertfordshire. The river and canal at Apsley and Nash Mills provided power for the mills and transport for materials and product.
The mill-house at Nash Mill, called Nash House, became the family home for Dickinson and his new wife Ann (née Grover) whose father Harry Grover supported this business development through his Grover's Bank. In a very few years Nash Mills was renowned for its production of tough thin paper for Samuel Bagster's "Pocket Reference Bible". A major fire in 1813 was a setback, but, being covered by insurance, enabled redevelopment towards large scale production.
During the 19th century, Sir John Evans and his son Lewis Evans (whose elder brother was the archeologist Sir Arthur Evans) both managed the company.
John Dickinson & Co. Ltd had their Engineering Department at Nash Mills until 1888, when it was transferred to Apsley Mill.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Nash Mill, which was small and had a reputation for independence, experienced a drop in profitability. Continuous minor changes were implemented until, in 1926 it underwent improvements with expansion, remodelling and refurbishment.
The Lion brand was adopted as the company logo in 1910 and in the following year (1911), the Basildon Bond brand was established. Companies were then formed in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere (thirteen countries in all).
Read more about this topic: John Dickinson Stationery
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)