1982 john dickinson stationery limited was a leading english stationery company founded in west hertfordshire that was later merged to form dickinson robinson group . in the 19th century the company pioneered a number of innovations in paper making . contents 1 history 2 basildon bond 3 innovations 4 dickinson robinson group 5 frogmore paper mill 6 black n red 7 references 8 external links 9 external links history edit founder john dickinson dickinson s former apsley mills now redeveloped as a residential site a lion brand electric delivery van in 1959 the company was founded in apsley hertfordshire in 1804 by john dickinson who invented a continuous mechanized paper making process . 1 2 dickinson patented his ideas in 1809 and in the same year he gained financial backing from george longman whose family controlled the longman publishing firm . 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 . 3 the mill house at nash mill called nash house became the family home for dickinson and his new wife ann n e 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 . 3 during the 19th century sir john evans and his son lewis evans whose elder brother was the archaeologist 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 . companies were then formed in south africa australia new zealand and elsewhere thirteen countries in all . 3 basildon bond edit basildon bond stationery the basildon bond brand of stationery was created by millington and sons in 1911 . 4 the brand is named after basildon park where some of millington s directors were staying 5 and liked the alliteration of basildon and bond . 4 the millington & sons company was acquired by john dickinson in 1918 who then took over the basildon bond brand . 6 the name basildon bond was used by comedian russ abbot for one of his characters . 7 innovations edit john dickinson patented a method of paper making in june 1807 that rendered his rivals techniques principally the fourdrinier machine obsolete . in 1850 the company started mechanical envelope manufacturing with gummed envelopes for the first time . the production of fine rag paper on electrically driven machines was a successful innovation at nash mill . the company pioneered the production of window envelopes in 1929 . dickinson robinson group edit dickinson robinson group ltd drg was formed out of e. s. & a. robinson packaging of bristol and john dickinson & co ltd. in 1966 creating one of the world s largest stationery and packaging companies . in 1989 asset stripper roland franklin pembridge investments acquired drg by now including the royal sovereign group acquired in 1978 with a leveraged buyout worth 900 million . in 1990 the paper mills in the group nash mills keynsham paper mill and fife paper mills were sold to sappi of south africa . these mills were all subsequently closed down by sappi as were all other acquisitions kymmini oy blackburn mill and wolvercote mill they made in the uk . in 1999 what had been the stationery division of the group was bought by spicers ltd and relocated from apsley to the village of sawston south of cambridge . in 2005 john dickinson stationery was purchased by the french stationery manufacturer hamelin group . rebranded as hamelin brands the company relocated to red lodge suffolk . 2 frogmore paper mill edit just north of the former apsley mill site in hemel hempstead is frogmore paper mill the world s oldest mechanised paper mill . it was at frogmore mill that bryan donkin first demonstrated the paper machine he developed for the fourdrinier brothers . now operated by a conservation and education charitable trust frogmore mill is open to the public and incorporates a visitor centre museum exhibition hall art gallery as well as continuing to make paper on machine and by hand . black n red edit a black n red book with side binding . black n red is a brand of books and pads of paper produced by john dickinson stationery limited with a striking black and red design . the front and back covers of such books are black with the text black n red written in red font in the bottom right corner of the cover . the spine or bind is also red . references edit bicentenary 1804 2004 the history of john dickinson . john dickinson stationery . 2004 . archived from the original on 12 february 2004 . retrieved 22 january 2015 . a b 1804 2008 the history of john dickinson stationery . hamelin . archived from the original on 17 july 2014 . retrieved 22 january 2015 . a b c john dickinson & co ltd . sir john evans centenary project . ashmolean museum . 2009 . archived from the original on 20 november 2009 . retrieved 22 january 2015 . a b room adrian 1983 . dictionary of trade name origins . london routledge . p. 37 . isbn 0 7102 0174 5 . basildon bond . history . basildon bond . archived from the original on 7 july 2011 . retrieved 5 august 2011 . basildon bond history . 2012 . retrieved 27 january 2013 . sherrie hewson 4 mar 2011 . 14 . behind the laughter . harpercollins . p. 77 . external links edit black n red website black n red website nederland external links edit official website hamelin paper trail official museum site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title john dickinson stationery & oldid 743918581 categories manufacturing companies established in 1804manufacturing companies of englanddacorummuseums in hertfordshireindustry museums in englandpapermaking in the united kingdom1804 establishments in englandcompanies based in hertfordshirestationers of the united kingdom navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was 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