Thomas de la Rue (24 March 1793 – 7 June 1866) was a printer from
Guernsey who founded
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 print ...
plc, a printing company which is now the world's largest commercial security printer and papermaker.
Biography
Born on Le Bourg,
Forest, Guernsey to Rachael () and Eleazar de la Rue. Thomas was the seventh of their nine children.
Thomas de la Rue was apprenticed to a master-printer, Joseph Antoine Chevalier in
Saint Peter Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958.
St ...
in 1803.
[Thomas de la Rue at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
/ref>[
In 1816 he left Guernsey, for ]London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
, where he initially established a business making straw hats.[ Then in 1830 together with Samuel Cornish and William Rock he founded a business of "cardmakers, hot pressers and enamellers".][ in 1831, de la Rue was granted the right to print playing cards, making it the first company to do so; it printed its first pack the following year. Soon afterwards, Thomas hired ]Owen Jones
Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, Pundit, political commentator, journalist, author, and Left-wing politics, left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' a ...
, a well-known designer and architect.[Thomas de la Rue]
at CardsHistory.com
By 1837 his wife, his two sons William Frederick and Warren De la Rue and his eldest daughter were involved in the business.[ In 1855 Thomas was made a ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the ]Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.[ In 1858, he retired from ]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 print ...
, handing over the management of the business to his sons.
Thomas de la Rue died in Kensington in 1866.[
]
Family
He married Jane Warren (17 June 1789 – 22 September 1858) on 21 March 1816.[
He had six daughters and two sons: Mary, Elizabeth, Georgiana, Louisa, Jane, Warren and William.
]
Memorials
The Guernsey Post Office has issued two sets of postage stamps
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 f ...
commemorating his life and achievements, in 1971 and 1993.
There is a pub on The Pollet, Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, named after him.
The States of Guernsey
The States of Guernsey (french: États de Guernesey), sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guer ...
issued a commemorative one-pound note in July 2013, to mark 200 years since the first commercial venture of Thomas De La Rue. The note is in circulation alongside the standard one-pound note, differing in the portrait of De La Rue on the reverse and a TDLR letter prefix.
References
Further reading
* Houseman, Lorna, ''The House That Thomas Built: the Story of De La Rue'', Chatto & Windus (1968)
* Marr, L. James, ''Guernsey People'', Phillimore (1984)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Rue, Thomas
Guernsey people
1793 births
1866 deaths
Anglo-Normans