John Dickinson and Co

of Croxley, Apsley, Nash and Home Park Mills, Hertfordshire. Head Office: 65 Old Bailey, London, EC4. (1922)

of New Bridge Street, London, EC4. Branches in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham. Mills in Apsley, Croxley, Nash, Home Park and Basildon Works, Tottenham. (1947)

John Dickinson 1782-1869

Inventor, engineer, architect, builder, manager and financier, John Dickinson spent more than 60 years in the trade, and laid the foundations for a company that has reflected his ingenuity and hunger for expansion ever since.

• 1803 At the age of 21, John Dickinson was already experimenting with improvements over the prevailing paper making process, the Fourdrinier patent.

• 1804 John Dickinson sets up as a stationer in the City of London.

• 1809 He developed a patent process for machine-made paper utilising an ‘endless web’. From this time right up to 1855 he took out dozens of patents, and many of the pioneering discoveries of papermaking were his.

• 1809-1830 Rapid expansion, as John Dickinson first buys Apsley Mill, Hemel Hempstead, followed by Nash Mill and Croxley Mill near Watford.

• 1850 Mechanical envelope manufacture starts at John Dickinson, producing its first gummed envelopes.

• By 1876 producing 3 million per week.

• 1910 Lion Brand adopted as the company logo.

• 1911 Basildon Bond brand established.

• 1917-1930 Companies established in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and ultimately a network of manufacturing sites and sales offices in 13 countries around the world.

• 1918 Millington and Sons acquired, originators of Basildon Bond.

• 1922 Listed Exhibitor. Manufacturers of Paper and Boards; Envelopes, Account Books, and Manufactured Stationery. Office Equipment Specialists. (Stand No. L.63)

• 1929 John Dickinson pioneers production of window envelopes.

• 1932 Basildon Bond becomes the bestselling notepaper in the UK.

• 1937 John Dickinson pioneer production of Latex Seal Easi envelopes.

• 1946 Factory in Kirkby, Liverpool, set up for pocket envelope production.

• 1947 Advert as Paper Makers and Manufacturing Stationers. Lion Brand Stationery. (Stationery and Printing Section)

• 1951 Production of Continuous Stationery established at Apsley.

• 1963 New 250,000 sq ft Stationery factory opened at Apsley.

• 1966 Formation of the Dickinson Robinson Group Ltd (DRG), to form one of the largest Stationery and Packaging companies in the world.

• 1974-1979 DRG acquires Papeteries de La Couronne, J. Arthur Dixon, Royal Sovereign and John Heath.

• Note: (01/08)
  • In 2004 John Dickinson celebrated its bicentenary as the largest UK producer of envelopes, books and pads.
  • The company has its own Website: [1]

Sources of Information

• [2] John Dickinson Stationery Limited
• 1922 British Industries Fair Page 23
• 1947 British Industries Fair Advert 103