The first paper-machine man.

Marchant Warrell began his career at around the age of 14 with an apprenticeship at Frogmore Mill in the late eighteenth century, learning to make paper by hand. After completing his apprenticeship he travelled across the country as a journeyman, finding work where he could, leading him to paper mills in Derbyshire and Cheddar, before returning to Hertfordshire to work at Two Waters Mill. It was here where the third, most refined paper machine was installed by the Fourdrinier brothers and Bryan Donkin in 1805, and in recognition of his talent, Marchant Warrell was the man chosen to run it.

Running the machine also required character and determination as many workers saw mechanisation as a threat to livelihoods, meaning defensive measures were also taken in the mill. Shutters were added to reinforce windows, and containers of toxic substances were placed on the roof in response to potential attackers, though thankfully these were not used.

The portrait was commissioned by the Fourdrinier brothers in 1810, and shows Warrell in a traditional papermaker’s hat, made from paper to absorb sweat in the hot atmosphere of the machine room.

Papermaking was often a family business and many of Warrell’s descendants remained in the trade or related industries over the next decades, as papermakers, printers, bookbinders, and engineers at paper mills.