William Clowes Ltd. is a British

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

company founded in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1803 by William Clowes. It grew from a small, one press firm to one of the world's largest printing companies in the mid-19th century. The company merged with Caxton Press, operated by William Moore in

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

in the late 19th century and concentrated its business in the town following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of directories and reference books and continues to operate out of its large printing factory at

Ellough Ellough is a civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk, located approximately south-east of Beccles. The area is sparsely populated with a mid-2005 population estimate of 40. The parish, ...

near Beccles as part of the CPI UK group.William Clowes
CPI UK. Retrieved 2011-06-25.Locations
CPI UK. Retrieved 2011-06-25.

History

Clowes established the firm on 21 October 1803 at 2 Villiers Street, London next to the Strand. The company was small in the beginning, having only one

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

and one assistant.Weedon.A (2004a) 'Clowes, William (1779–1847)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press
available online
, accessed 2011-06-25. Clowes worked for three days and nights to finish his first job, which satisfied the customer. Business soon grew from word of mouth, as customers were impressed with the company's speed and accuracy.

Expansion and steam powered presses

The company expanded in 1823 with the purchase of Northumberland Court and the installation of its first

steam-powered A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tra ...

press Press may refer to: Media * Publisher * News media * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press TV, an Iranian television network Newspapers United States * ''The Press'', a former name of ''The Press-Enterprise'', Riverside, California ...

es (made by Applegath and Cowper). However, the new noisy presses disturbed the

Duke of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of N ...

, whose palace was nearby, and he ordered the company to cease operation. When Clowes refused, the case was tried in court in June 1824, where the printer won with the help of his attorney John Copley.Smiles.S (1884) 'William Clowes: introducer of book-printing by steam' in ''Men of invention and industry''
available online at Project Gutenberg
. Retrieved 2011-06-25. Clowes agreed to move the presses though in exchange for a sum paid by the Duke. The exchange proved fruitful for Clowes, as the bankruptcy of

Archibald Constable Archibald David Constable (24 February 1774 – 21 July 1827) was a Scottish publisher, bookseller and stationer. Life Constable was born at Carnbee, Fife, son of the land steward to the Earl of Kellie. In 1788 Archibald was apprenticed to ...

caused a short period of bad business that afflicted the London publishing industry and the Duke's compensation helped offset the large losses Clowes experienced during this time. In 1826, the company purchased and moved to premises on Duke Street (now Duchy Street),

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

. This had previously been occupied by Applegath and Cowper. The firm, which was renamed at William Clowes and Sons in 1839, grew rapidly, and by 1843 was one of the largest printing companies in the world: it operated 24 presses and had its own type and stereotype foundries, 2500 tonnes of stereotyped plates (at the time worth at least 500,000

pounds sterling Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...

), and a collection of 80,000

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s. In 1847, Clowes died, and three of his sons, William Clowes the younger (1807–1883), Winchester, and George, took over running the company. In 1851, the company secured a large contract to print half a million catalogues for the

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition that took ...

. The project involved the use of 50 tonnes of type, 30,000 reams of paper and three tonnes of ink.Weedon.A (2004b) 'Clowes, William, the younger (1807–1883)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press'',
available online
, accessed 2011-06-25.

Merger with Caxton Press

In 1873, William Clowes the younger's eldest son, William Archibald Clowes (1843–1904), and his nephew William Charles Knight Clowes (1838–1917) entered a partnership with William Moore, who operated the Caxton Press in

. Although Moore suddenly disappeared, leaving a considerable debt, the firm survived and was re-established as Clowes and Clowes. It grew from operating four presses to 15 in just three years. In 1880, Clowes and Clowes merged with William Clowes & Sons to form William Clowes Ltd.

Relocation to Beccles

The company continued operating into the 20th century, but suffered a setback during

, when

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

destroyed its Duke Street offices. Following the war, the firm decided to concentrate on expanding its presses in Beccles. In the late 1970s, computerised phototypesetting was introduced to the company which has continued to invest in digital technology. The company sold its old Beccles premises in 2003 and moved to a new, custom-built factory at

on the outskirts of Beccles in 2004.Staff call for safe route to work
BBC news website, 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2011-06-25.

References

*Langley, Leanne. "Clowes".
Grove Music Online
' (subscription required). ed. L. Macy. Retrieved on March 7, 2007. {{Authority control Printing companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Suffolk