Waterlow and Sons Limited was a major worldwide engraver of currency, postage stamps, stocks and bond certificates based in London, Watford and Dunstable in England. The company was founded as a family business in 1810. It was acquired in 1961 by De La Rue.
Early history
Waterlow and Sons originated from the business of James Waterlow, who began producing lithographic copies of legal documents at Birchin Lane in London in 1810. The company gradually grew; it began printing stamps in 1852, and Waterlow's sons Alfred, Walter, Sydney and Albert joined the business. James Waterlow died in 1876, and the company became a limited-liability company. In 1877, due to a family dispute, the company split, and Alfred and his sons formed Waterlow Bros. & Layton. The two companies later reunited in 1920.[1][2]
In 1921 the Bank of England gained a legal monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales, a process that started with the Bank Charter Act of 1844 when the ability of other banks to issues notes was restricted.
On 22 November 1928 the Bank issued notes for ten shillings and one pound for the first time when the Bank took over responsibility for these denominations from the Treasury which had issued notes of these denominations three days after the declaration of war in 1914 in order to remove gold coins from circulation. The treasury bills had been printed by Waterlows, and the loss of the contract contributed to the closure of Waterlow's operations at Milton Street in Watford.[7]
De La Rue ownership
Waterlow's was acquired by Purnell and Sons in 1961, but Purnell sold Waterlow's segment that printed banknotes, postage stamps, traveler's checks, and bonds to De La Rue soon after.[8]
In 2003 De La Rue acquired the banknote printing operations of the Bank of England,[9] 75 years after Waterlow's had lost the business.
Waterlow and Sons Ltd was dissolved in January 2009 but re-incorporated as a dormant company in November 2016.[10]
^"Waterlow and Sons: 1934 Review". Grace's Guide. Grace's Guide. Retrieved 10 March 2012. Based on "Printing by Every Process". British Commerce and Industry: The Post-War Transition 1919–1934. Russell-Square Press. 1934.
^Shargi, Ali (15 December 1998), ESKENĀS, vol. VIII/6, Encyclopædia Iranica, pp. 615–624
^The New Lord Mayor. The Times (London, England), Friday, Sep 27, 1929; pg. 17; Issue 45319
^‘WATERLOW, Sir William (Alfred)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 accessed 2 April 2017
^Nunn, JB (1987). The Book of Watford. Watford: Pageprint (Watford) Ltd. ISBN0-9511777-1-0. p171
.jpg)
