McCorquodale and Co
of Newton-le-Willows
of 40 Coleman Street, London, EC
1849 Company established.
1880 Dissolution of the Partnership between George McCorquodale, Charles Edward Hamilton, Alexander Cowan McCorquodale, and George Frederick McCorquodale, carrying on business as Printers and Manufacturing Stationers, at Newton-le-Willows, in the county of Lancaster, at No. 17, Change-alley, in the city of London, at Cardington-street, Middlesex, at the Armoury, St. Thomas-street, Southwark, in the county of Surrey, at Basinghall-street, Leeds, in the county of York, and at Maxwell-street, in the city of Glasgow, by mutual consent.[1]
1880 Incorporated as a limited company.
1911 Printers for the Railways.[2]
1914 Printers, lithographers, engravers, stationers, bookbinders. [3]
1927 Diversified into security printing with acquisition of Blades East and Blades
1937 Further acquisition of cheque printers, Charles Skipper and East
1961 Public company
1962 Acquired George Falkner and Sons, a cheque printer based in Manchester.
1966 'The headquarters of McCorquodale, the international printing group, are today moving from London to the Houndmilt industrial estate, Basingstoke. The offices are in a new four-storey building put up on the site already occupied by Charles Skipper and East, one of the group's subsidiaries. About 30 people are involved in the move....As well as the offices of the parent company the building will house the administrative staffs of two subsidiaries also moving from London, McCorquodale Colour Display Ltd., McCorquodale Punched Cards Ltd., the offices of Charles Skipper and East and the group's pension funds, chief buyer's and research and development department. Space has been set aside for the NCR 500 series computer. The company was formed in 1847 and the McCorquodale family has been connected with it ever since. The expansion to its present size began in the 1920s, and it has acquired its overseas interests since the war. Like other printing groups it has in recent years been concentrating its activities into bigger units. In this country the group's activities include jobbing and contract printing and specialised work like cheque printing.'[4]
1973 Acquired a printer supplying Lloyds of London
1974 Acquired a US firm of security printers
1978 Established a printer of lottery tickets, Astra Games.
1979 Acquired a paperback book printer
1980 Acquired another US firm of security printers
1982 Acquired another US firm of security printers
1980s Diversification into publishing, including John Wisden and Co Ltd, publisher of the Cricketers Almanack
1984 Acquired a number of magazine printers in the United Kingdom and opened a security printing company in Northern Ireland to service the local demand for cheque books.
1985 Acquired Robert Snow Means Co Inc, a Massachusetts-based publisher of computerised information to the construction industry.
1986 Added to its packaging interests with the acquisition of a specialist carton printer and manufacturer
1986 Proposed merger with Norton Opax was referred to the Monopolies Commission but eventually this went ahead.[5]