John Evans started working in the Dickinson paper mill, owned by his uncle and godfather John Dickinson, in April 1840 when he was 17. John Dickinson's own son, also John, had no wish to work in his father's business. John Dickinson and his remaining family, wife Ann and grown up children John, Frances and Harriet (four of his five sons had died young) had just moved from Nash Mills House, which was now being lived in by his partner Charles Longman, to a new house, 'Abbot's Hill, and it was there that young John Evans arrived from Boxmoor station, to a 'tepid welcome from his aunt and her elder daughter'. He started work the following day at Nash Mills: 'I go down to Nash Mill every morning at about seven and come back at some time between six and ten' he wrote to his mother (Time and Chance). He stayed with the family for a few weeks until his lodgings in the village were ready. At first he found himself rather lonely without much in common with his host family. He also found it very hard to think of his older brother Arthur wasting his time at Oxford whilst he worked hard at the mill; John had been denied a university education despite his evident abilities.

On his marriage to John Dickinson's daughter Harriet, John became a junior partner in the firm. Evans had worked extremely hard for ten years before this time, and continued to do so for the rest of his working life.

Ultimately he became a central figure in the British paper-making industry. He took out a number of patents, including some for the production of envelopes, ornate paper and paper napkins. He also introduced esparto grass as a raw material for paper making as an alternative for rags which were becoming more difficult to source. He was deeply involved in organising the trade organisations and was a founding member of the Papermaker's Association.

Obituary from the Papermaker's Association

At the beginning of the 19th century paper was still being made by hand as it had been done since the middle ages. A slow process - each sheet was made in a mould and then hung up to dry, but it did produce beautiful paper. In 1798 a French worker, Louis Robert devised a new process in which the paper was made by pouring the diluted pulp on to an endless web of wire constantly moving forward and shaking gently to drain the liquid. (Joan Evans used this phrase as the title for her book The Endless Web in 1955).This new invention was brought to England and patented on his behalf. Subsequently the Fourdriner brothers bought the patent and set up the first machine bearing their name at Frogmore Mill in 1804. John Dickinson had invented and patented in 1809 a rival process. His endless web was of felt passing round a roller. Dickinson also patented a machine for cutting and planing the paper, and a new cartridge paper (which was an anti-smoldering paper for use in canons during the Napoleonic ware ) made by mixing linen and woollen rags. In 1809 he purchased Apsley Mill, an old corn mill. Dickinson then purchased his second mill, Nash Mills, half a mile from Apsley. He built his third mill in 1826 on the River Gade at Home Park, a mile downstream from Nash Mills. Croxley Mill was another built by him in 1830 on a site between Watford and Rickmansworth; this made paper and card.

Further References / Links:

Joan Evans, Time and Chance: The Story of Arthur Evans and His Forebears (1943)

Joan Evans, The Endless Webb, John Dickinson & Co. 1804-1954 (1955)

Apsley Mill Paper Trail has details of Evans's paper manufacturing interests.

Alison Muir '18th century paper makers of North of Ireland', Familia (Ulster Historical Foundation) (2004)