The British Paper Industry, 1800–2000

Abstract

Britain was the first country in the world to enter into the business of mechanised papermaking. It continued in the lead in the field of papermaking until the 1890s, after which the momentum of being the first nation successfully to mechanise the production of paper was gradually lost to some of its major competitors in North America and Continental Europe. The first part of the twentieth century was characterised by industry growth disturbed by the First World War, the economic depression of the early 1930s and the Second World War. The post-Second World War era signified the decline of the role of the Empire as a market and business-making area for British companies and also the decline of the British-owned paper industry itself. British entry into the Common Market in 1973 oriented the British paper industry towards Europe.