PAPER
The earliest attempt at paper-making in
England was made by John Tate, the younger,
mayor of London in 1496, who erected a
paper mill in the neighbouring county of
Hertford. This mill furnished the paper for a
book entitled Bartholomaeus Anglicus de proprietatibus rerum, printed by Wynkyn de Worde
in 1495 (?), as we learn from the eighth verse
of the 'Prohemium':-
And John Tate the yonger Ioye mote he broke
Whiche late hath in Englande doo make this paper
thynne
That now in our Englyssh this boke is prynted
Inne.
Many subsequent attempts were, however,
made before the art was successfully established in this country. Between 1574 and
1576 another eminent London citizen, Sir
Thomas Gresham, set up a paper mill on his
estate at Osterley Park, Middlesex. This
mill formed the subject of an Exchequer inquiry to determine whether it had encroached
on the queen's highway or injured the queen's
mills. (fn. 1) This inquiry took place in 1584, and
from the evidence of the witnesses examined it
appears that Gresham's mill stood on the river
Brent, 'nere Cruxewell's forde,' that it was
erected about thirteen years previously, and
that it was a corn-mill when first erected.
Not long before his death in 1579 Gresham
'ioyned a paper myll thervnto and yet vsed
the same myll a corne myll still, and all vnder
one roufe and dryven by one streame.' (fn. 2)
Norden, writing in 1593, fourteen years after
Gresham's death, states that his mills (for
paper, oil, and corn), were then 'decaied, a
corne mill excepted.' (fn. 3) Had his life been
spared there is little doubt that the great com
mercial genius of Sir Thomas Gresham would
have made out of this beginning a flourishing
industry for our country.
Richard Tottel, or Tottyll, a printer in the
City of London, appears next as a paper
manufacturer. In a petition addressed in
1585 (?) to Lord Burghley he says that twelve
years before he, with some partners, agreed
to set up a paper mill, but his companions left
the undertaking, on the ground that the
project had twice or thrice been attempted
before, but without success. He was resolved to persevere and complained of the
hindrance of Frenchmen, 'who buy up all
our rags.' He prays that the exportation
of rags from this country may be prohibited,
and that a site for a paper mill may be granted
him with sole privilege for thirty years of
making paper in England. (fn. 4) Tottel seems to
have had no better success than his predecessors. A German named Spilman, or Spielman, who erected a paper mill at Dartford in
1588, was more successful, and is said to
have been knighted by Queen Elizabeth in
recognition of this national service. (fn. 5) A recurrence of the plague in 1636-7 led to a
correspondence between Peter Heywood, a
Westminster justice of the peace, and Lord
Keeper Coventry. Heywood urged the
necessity of seizing the rags sold at rag shops
in Clerkenwell, St. Giles's Cripplegate,
Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Stepney, and St.
Katharine's, to prevent their being sold to
make paper. (fn. 6) One of the offending paper
makers was William Bushee, who had set up
a mill in Middlesex midway between Hounslow and East Bedfont. On 8 December
1636 he was summoned to the Middlesex
Sessions 'for grindinge ragges in his papermill that came from London, whereby one of
his servantes became infected with the
plague.' (fn. 7) The popular alarm seems to have
stopped the mills from working, and the privy
council ordered the local authorities to give
help to the workpeople thrown out of their
employment. This produced an indignant
petition from the inhabitants of Middlesex
and Bucks who lived in the neighbourhood of
the mills. The correspondence provides us
with some useful facts. There were at least
four paper mills in this district: that of
William Bushee, one of Edmond Phipps at
Horton, one probably belonging to Richard
West at Poyle, and the mill at Colnbrook,
which may have been held by Henry Harris.
The petitioners complained that the landlords
by converting their corn mills into paper mills
advanced their rents from £10 and £15 to
£100 and £150 per annum, that the papermakers brought many indigent persons into
their parishes whom they ought to maintain,
and their workmen had double wages in comparison with other labourers and might well
save, that the paper made was so 'unuseful'
that it would bear no ink on one side, and
was sold at dearer rates than formerly. For
these and other reasons the petitioners, so far
from consenting to the paper-makers, desire if
possible that their mills may be suppressed or
removed further off. (fn. 8)
In spite of these and other attempts in
various parts of the country to manufacture
paper, the greater part of the paper used
in England, and certainly that of finer quality,
was imported from abroad. In 1675 a
patent (fn. 9) was granted to Eustace Burneby
for 'making all sorts of white paper for the
use of writing and printing, being a new
manufacture never practised in any our
kingdomes or dominions.' Burneby must
have had some success, for three years later a
book was presented to the king, (fn. 10) 'being
printed upon English paper and made within
five miles of Windsor by Eustace Burneby,
esq. who was the first Englishman that
brought it into England, attested by Henry
Million, who was overseer in the making of
this royal manufacture.' Burneby's mill is
said to have been at Stanwell, Middlesex, but
its success was short-lived.
The Craftsman (No. 910) records that
William III granted certain Huguenot refugees, Biscoe and others, a patent for establishing paper manufactories, but that the undertaking was not successful. In 1713 Thomas
Watkin, a stationer in London, brought the
art of manufacturing paper to great perfection,
in consequence of which numerous paper
mills were established in England. (fn. 11)
On 17 September 1787 Samuel Hooper, a
bookseller and stationer of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, patented (fn. 12) 'a new method of making
or manufacturing printing paper particularly
for copper-plate printing.' Hooper is said
also to have produced, in 1790, paper of
various qualities from leather cuttings and
refuse paper. (fn. 13) Other inventions for bleaching rags for paper were registered by Hector
Campbell on 28 November 1792 (No. 1,922)
and by John Bigg on 28 February 1795
(No. 2,040).
In 1804 Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier,
stationers and paper manufacturers of London,
erected their first paper-making machine at
Boxmoor, Herts. This, with many improvements by subsequent inventors, continued to
be for many years the principal type of papermaking machinery. The excise returns for
1835 (fn. 14) show that seventy London manufacturers of stained paper paid a total duty of
£35,012 9s. 7d., while the total for all
England was £49,746 8s.
Wall Papers.- The manufacture of paper
hangings in England is said to have begun
about 1746, when it was started by Potter
of Manchester. Paper-staining as an industry has long been carried on in Old
Ford. About the beginning of the 19th century the founders of the firm of John Allan
& Son came up from their native county of
Elgin in Scotland and settled in the East
of London. Here they created a large business which in 1876 employed 150 hands
and produced wall paper of every kind, suitable for the cottage, the mansion, or the
palace. (fn. 15) There is no industry in which the
influence of the artistic revival in England has
been more apparent than in this manufacture.
Among the firms who have taken a prominent
part in the production of paper hangings of
good quality are those of Jeffrey & Co.,
Morris & Co., and Crace. There are more
than twenty other trades connected with the
paper industry. Among the more important
paper-makers in Middlesex at the present day
are the Colnbrook Paper Mills, Ltd., Poyle
Mill, Colnbrook; Isaac Warwick & Co.,
Wraysbury Mill, near Staines; the Patent
Impermeable Millboard Co., Ltd., Sunbury
Common; and the West Drayton Millboard
Co., Ltd.