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Henry Fourdrinier

(1730-1799), Paper maker; father of Henry Fourdrinier

Sitter in 1 portrait
Henry Fourdrinier senior was a wealthy papermaker and wholesale stationer. His sons Henry and Sealy spent £60,000 on perfecting a machine for making continuous paper in 1807. At a Parliamentary hearing in 1837, Marc Isambard Brunel called the machine 'one of the most splendid inventions of the age'; it enabled printing to be done at high speed on rotary presses for the first time.

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The Fourdrinier Family

attributed to John Downman
oil on copper, circa 1786
NPG 6091

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Fourdrinier

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Henry Fourdrinier