Harrison and Sons was a major worldwide engraver and printer of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s and

banknotes A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

History

The company was established in 1750 by Thomas Harrison in Warwick Lane,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

; in 1839 Thomas Richard Harrison entered into partnership with John William Parker, creating Harrison and Co. It went through similar names and retained Harrison family ownership until 1979 when sold to

Lonrho Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services. History Lonrho ...

. Harrison and Sons printed its first stamp, a 1d Inland Revenue stamp for

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

, in 1866. This seems to be the only stamp printed by the company during the 19th century. It obtained its first

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

contract in 1881. In 1910, a new factory opened in Hayes.Harrison & Sons Ltd: A Timeline from King George II to King George VI
Stamp Printers The company won the contract to print the single colour United Kingdom

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

stamps in 1911 after the Post Office decided not to renew its contract with

De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...

. Initially, using printing machines manufactured by

Timsons Timsons Ltd is a family-owned company which manufactures bespoke book and flexible packaging printing presses. Timsons was founded in 1896 by Arthur Richardson Timson and employs over 200 people at its Kettering, UK headquarters. A sales subsidiar ...

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

, it went on to produce most of the British stamps over the 60-year period from the 1930s until the 1990s, including the first UK stamp using the

photogravure Photogravure (in French ''héliogravure'') is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and ...

method in 1934 and the first photogravure commemoratives in 1935 for Silver Jubilee of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...

. The first UK Christmas issue in 1966, on the specially designed Jumelle press, was also printed at Harrison and Sons. They printed their last British commemorative issue, referred to as "''Queen’s Beasts’ issue''", in 1998. The stamps were actually printed one year before they were issued to the public.Stamp Printers by Country
Stamp Printers During the 1920s, Harrison & Son printed

for the

Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...

in Australia. In 1933, the factory moved to

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

. The company (abbreviation H&S) also printed stamps, banknotes, passports and gift vouchers for over 100 other countries from 1881. Some of its most famous publications were ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' and ''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

''. In 1979, the business was purchased by

. In February 1997, it was sold to

with the High Wycombe plant refurbished. The plant closed in 2003.

Company names

* Harrison and Co (1839–1849) * Harrison and Son (1849–1854) * Harrison and Sons (1854–1920) * Harrison & Sons Limited (1920–1997)Companies House extract company no 168827
Harrison & Sons Limited

References

{{reflist Printing companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1750 British companies disestablished in 1997 Companies based in Buckinghamshire 1750 establishments in England 1997 disestablishments in England Banknote printing companies High Wycombe British companies established in 1750