John Tate was the first English papermaker. According to the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

he was born about 1448. A businessman based in London, he was a member of the

Mercers Company The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...

Early life

The Tates were a successful business family with international trading connections. The subject was known to contemporaries as "John Tate the younger", Tate, called "the yonger", is mentioned by Wynkyn de Worde in the colophon to a book he produced in 1496, an encyclopaedia, ''De Proprietatibus Rerum'' by

Bartholomeus Anglicus Bartholomaeus Anglicus (before 1203–1272), also known as Bartholomew the Englishman and Berthelet, was an early 13th-century Scholastic of Paris, a member of the Franciscan order. He was the author of the compendium ''De proprietatibus rerum' ...

(in

John Trevisa 350px, John Trevisa (or John of Trevisa; la, Ioannes Trevisa; fl. 1342–1402 AD) was a Cornish writer and translator. Trevisa was born at Trevessa in the parish of St Enoder in mid-Cornwall, in Britain and was a native Cornish speaker. He w ...

's translation). This book has been claimed to be the first printed on English paper. and is believed have been the son of the John Tate who served as

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

in 1473. Neither father nor son is to be confused with a third John Tate, apparently a cousin of the subject, who was knighted and who served as Lord Mayor in 1496-97 and 1514–15.

Papermaking

Tate acquired a long-established

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

called Sele Mill. At that time it was just outside Hertford which has since grown to include the suburb of

Bengeo Bengeo is a suburb and former village and civil parish on the northwest edge of the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. It is an electoral ward of Hertford. In 1891 the parish had a population of 2586. In 1894 the parish was abol ...

. Sele Mill is on the

River Beane The River Beane is a short river in the county of Hertfordshire, England. A tributary of the River Lea, it rises to the south-west of Sandon in the hills northeast of Stevenage and joins the Lea at Hartham Common in Hertford. Watermills ...

, a

chalk stream Chalk streams are rivers that rise from springs in landscapes with chalk bedrock. Since chalk is permeable, water percolates easily through the ground to the water table and chalk streams therefore receive little surface runoff. As a result, th ...

, near its confluence with the River Lea. This facility was converted into a paper mill. Paper was produced there in the 1490s, and possibly earlier. The

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

of the Beane was a rural area, but there is evidence that Tate found customers locally with some of his paper being used for record-keeping by the

Woodhall estate Heath Mount School is a Church of England co-educational independent prep school near Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, England. It admits pupils aged 3 to 13. It was founded as Heath Mount Academy in Hampstead in 1796. In 1934 it was relocated to ...

a few miles upstream.The document in question was a court roll. See ''Papermaking in Britain 1488-1988: A Short History''. Richard Leslie Hills Importantly for his business plan, the mill was less than 30 miles from the capital which could be accessed via

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London ('' Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas' ...

or the River Lea (see note). One London-based customer was

Wynkyn de Worde Wynkyn de Worde (died 1534) was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognised as the first to popularise the products of the printing press in England. Name Wynkyn de Worde was a German immigr ...

, who took over

Caxton Caxton may refer to: Places * Caxton Street, Brisbane, Australia * Caxton, Cambridgeshire, a village in Cambridgeshire, UK ** Caxton Gibbet, a knoll near the village * Caxton Hall, a historic building in London, UK * Caxton Building, a historic ...

's print shop in the 1490s. Another London-based customer was

Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beauf ...

. The king, who had given

Hertford Castle Hertford Castle was built in Norman times by the River Lea in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire, England. Most of the internal buildings of the castle have been demolished. The main surviving section is the Tudor gatehouse, which is a Gr ...

to his wife in 1487, visited the mill in 1498. He is known to have made a return visit the following year. It has been suggested that one of the

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations ...

s used by Tate, a

Tudor rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

, was designed with royal use in mind. The quality of the paper was good, but the mill seems to have ceased producing it at the beginning of the 16th century for reasons which are not clear. Tate mentioned the building in his will of 1507 along with a stock of white paper he had there. Possibly he could not get a good enough price for his paper, although, as far as is known, there were not any other British producers.

Final years

Tate wrote his will in 1507 and died that year or the following. He had been living at

Mincing Lane Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading. Etymology Its name is a corruption of Mynchen ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and was buried at St Dunstan-in-the-East.Richard L. Hills, ‘Tate, John (c.1448–1507/8)’,

, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 24 June 2015
Subscription or UK public library membership required.

Legacy

Sele Mill was rebuilt at the end of the 19th century. It is now used as apartments. After Tate's time a paper industry was reestablished in Hertfordshire. The valley of the

River Gade The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watfo ...

proved a suitable site and, in a significant break-through, a continuous paper making machine was installed at Frogmore Mill in 1803.

Notes

:1. The first

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

for navigational improvement of the River Lea was granted in 1425.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, John Papermakers 15th-century English businesspeople 16th-century English businesspeople 1500s deaths Burials at St Dunstan-in-the-East