The Paper Valley Brands
Many familiar brands were created within the Paper Valley. See some of them below.
Basildon Bond
In 1918 Dickinson’s bought out Millington’s after which Basildon Bond became a byword for high-class stationery.
British Paper Company
The British Paper Company Limited was formed in 1890 specifically to make paper from waste paper. Despite its grand name, the company has only ever operated from Frogmore Mill.
Initial production was concentrated on laminating ‘middles’, an inexpensive, bulky product used as the middle of a laminated card. Much of the early output was sold to John Dickinson for making into postcards. Business later expanded into making ticket papers for the growing public transport market and many of the traditional multi-coloured bus, tram and cinema tickets came from Frogmore Mill. For most of the company’s life these two products have formed the mainstay of its output.The sharp end of the original machine
In 1890 there was just one paper machine but a second machine was installed, secondhand, in 1907. A dated drying cylinder indicates that the machine was originally built in 1895. The first machine was taken out of use in the 1970’s but the ‘No 2’ machine continues in use today, although over 100 years old. Whilst there have been modifications and improvements over the years, many parts of the paper machine are still identifiably the same as when first installed in 1907. A unique feature of the mill is that this historic paper machine is still powered by a steam engine.
In recent years there has been a steady decline in demand for the company’s traditional products and an increasingly wide range of other grades are now manufactured at Frogmore. With an annual output of less than 2500 tonnes, today’s output includes laminating middles, coloured printing and manila boards, ticket papers, kraft printing papers and boards, black boards and blotting paper, all made from 100% recycled fibre.
Uses for the mills products range from the manufacture of printed circuit boards to stuffing in the toes of ballet shoes! Recent developments include a range of special ingredient papers, incorporating such diverse ingredients as recycled bank notes, grass cuttings and seeds.
Lion Brand
The world-famous stationery rage was introduced in about 1880 in Calcutta, India, when different colours of lion were used so that the local population who did not speak English could tell the difference between different grades of John Dickinson’s products.
The company took action against any other company’s use of the Lion symbol until legislation guaranteed their ownership. Lion Brand was used as a trade mark for the export trade, then, in 1910, it became used universally as an indication of a John Dickinson product. In many cases the stationery range with this name was used for the lower priced market.
Croxley Script
Despite its name, most Croxley Script paper was produced at Nash Mills. Describing itself as ‘The Paper for Business’, Croxley Script adapted throughout the ages with plain paper produced at times to be suitable for typewriters, and later for laser and inkjet printing. The Croxley brand gave its name to other papers produced at Nash Mills, such as the recycled range Croxley Heritage, and the quality range Croxley Supreme which contained a high cotton content.
Challenge
To satisfy the needs of business users the Challenge range of business products was developed. These included cash and receipt books, notebooks, record cards, filing systems and many more.
Three Candlesticks
The need for up-market writing sets, attractively boxed in faux leather cases, brought the Three Candlesticks range to market. The name was derived from a monetary coin token said to have been found in 1799 on the site of the Company’s former head office at 63/65 Old Bailey off Ludgate Hill in London. This token bore the sign of three candlesticks with the year 1649 and is thought to have been a tavern.
Black n’ Red
John Dickinson and Company’s Black n’ Red, brand of books and pads is still available today. The familiar black covers with red lettering and red spine or wiro, are now distributed by the Hamlin Group.
Summit
An educational stationery range produced by John Dickinson & Co. Products such as A4 refill pads, ring binders, exercise books, and subject wallets were made for a target audience of schools and students.
Aldbury Cards
A range of printers’ cards first introduced in 1906, named after the Hertfordshire village. Aldbury created blank cards for printing, as well as purpose designed cards such as postcards, scorecards, wedding cards and printed pictorial cards.