William Dawson and Sons
William Dawson and Sons (Otley) Ltd, printers and printing machine-makers, etc. of Ashfield Foundry, Otley, Yorks.
1830 Company established.
1849 William Dawson had a small back-street joiner’s shop in Otley. He employed David Payne and Robert Elliott, starting an iron foundry in Otley
1858 The first Wharfedale printing machine was built by Dawson and Payne; the design was so successful it was copied worldwide and provided for 50 years of growth of the company.
At the time of its invention, engineers throughout the world were seeking ways of modernising the printing press. Little progress had been made since Gutenberg printed his famous Bible on a wooden press in Germany in 1454.
The first major improvement came with the introduction of the cylinder which, when used in conjunction with a flat bed, offered many advantages over the traditional method of printing from two flat surfaces.
However, it was the inventive genius of David Payne that was responsible for the real breakthrough: a stop-cylinder machine with a travelling bed that could deliver print without having to be stopped.
Soon afterwards, they collaborated in building the new Ulverstonian printing machine for its inventor, Mr Stephen Soulby.
There seems little doubt that it was during this project that Payne's fertile brain conceived the stop-cylinder principle that, within the next few years was to have such a shattering impact on the industry.
Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that the machine may have been invented as early as 1851. The story being that, when the Payne family were moving house in that year, one of the Payne's sons was shown a drawing of what turned out to be the first Wharfedale. The drawing was done on the headboard of a bed which his father kept covered for fear that someone might discover his secret.
For a time, Dawson and Payne simply called their revolutionary new machine 'Our Own Kind' and made no effort to take out patents. Inevitably, this led to it being widely copied by other firms both in England and overseas.
Not content with copying the machine, a good many firms even went to the lengths of recruiting Dawson men to show them how to build it. At one time, it was estimated that half the firms making the Wharfedale employed men who, at some time or other had worked for Dawson in Otley.
For half a century, the Wharfedale dominated world markets and it continued to be manufactured right up to modern
1859 Robert Elliott died
1866 David Payne established his own business, David Payne. Dissolution of the Partnership between William Dawson, David Payne, and Thomas Galloway Dawson, as Machine Makers, at Otley, in the county of York, under the style or firm of Dawson, Payne, and Co., so far as regards the said David Payne, as and from the 7th day of November, 1866[1]
1872 "NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, William Dawson and Thomas Galloway Dawson, at Ashfield Foundry, in Otley, in the county of York, as Machine Makers and Engineers, under the style or firm of William Dawson and Sons, has been dissolved, as and from the 1st day of January last. The business will now be carried on by the said Thomas Galloway Dawson and Jeremiah Dawson, in partnership together, under the style or firm of William Dawson and Sons, and they will receive and pay all debts due to and from the late firm. — Dated this 8th day of May, 1872.[2]
1885 "NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, Thomas Galloway Dawson and Jeremiah Dawson, at Ashfield Foundry, in Otley, in the county of York, as Machine Makers and Engineers, under the style or firm, of William Dawson and Sons, has been dissolved as and from the 16th day of November, 1885. The business will now be carried on by the said Thomas Galloway Dawson alone, under the said style or firm of William Dawson and Sons, and he will receive and pay all debts due to and from the late firm. — Dated this 16th day of November, 1885. Thos. G. Dawson. Jerh. Dawson.[3]
1906 Incorporated as a private limited company - William Dawson and Sons
1914 Printers' engineers. Specialities: original makers of the Wharfedale printing machines; inventors and patentees of various appliances for the production of high-class half-tone and three-colour work and for high-class magazines. Employees 500. [4]
1921 Acquired Payne and Sons
The company became Dawson, Payne and Elliott
An example of the Wharfedale Machine can be found in the Otley Museum. The museum's machine is one of the originals, dating back to 1862. It was presented by the late Mr. James Stott, former sales director of Dawson, Payne and Elliott, reassembled and restored to working order.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ London Gazette 15 February, 1867
- ↑ The London Gazette 10 May 1872
- ↑ The London Gazette 5 January 1886
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book