PARKER PEN COMPANY
Advertisement for female workers for the Felix Works
The Felix Macauley workforce taken around 1925
Valentine Pen Factory staff mid 1930s
Valentine Pen Factory 1939
The Parker factory in 1945 - to the left is the air raid shelter which was turned into a storage area after the war
The Parker Pen factory 2008
A Brief History
By Carol Walton
THE BEGINNING.
In WW1 an army transit camp consisting of a few huts was constructed on the site where the Parker Pen Factory now is. Throughout the war the camp played a major part in the transportation of men and materials across the channel to France then in 1918 it was used as a rehabilitation centre for troops returning from the front.
THE FELIX FACTORY.
In 1921 a man named Felix Macauley established a fountain pen factory in the now redundant army camp, and during the mid-1920s a few additions were made in order to improve the working conditions of the employees. These improvements including among other things, a small building to house the laboratory, a brick boiler house and a small dining room.
Unfortunately the depression in the late twenties and thirties forced Felix Macauley to reduce his workforce, but luckily at about the same time Mr Valentine, who was the Managing Director of a private company called Valentine & Son, was looking to extend his pen manufacturing capabilities and he considered the ex-army camp the ideal site for this, so in 1930 Valentine & Sons became sole owners of the Felix Works.
THE VALENTINE PEN COMPANY.
In 1932 after Valentine & Son took over the site, a few small additions were made to the factory then in July 1934 local builders Oxley & Bennett commenced some major works on the site which doubled the size of the original factory unit. These included a large extension to the Turning Shop and an increase in the size of the Assembly Department. At that time there were around 100 people working for the Valentine Pen Company.
With the onset of WW2, the factory was assigned to manufacture firing pins and precision torpedo parts and this "War Work" necessitated the factory being run twenty four hours a day for six days a week, using both male and female staff. Some pens were still being made but with most of the machinery converted to munitions work, only 20% of normal production was being achieved.
THE PARKER PEN COMPANY
In 1888 George Safford Parker, a 25 year old teacher from Janesville, USA, invented his first successful fountain pen and established the Parker Pen Company.
The 1940's . The Parker Pen Company had a factory in Canada and in 1941 the company acquired an interest in the Valentine Pen Company at Newhaven. The first products despatched out of Newhaven under the name of the Parker Pen Company were assembled from components delivered from Canada.
The first product to be made solely in the Newhaven factory was the Parker Victory Pen.
In 1945, Parker Pen UK completed the purchase of the Valentine Pen Factory after which time Parker Pen UK grew in manufacturing capacity and prosperity, not only in the UK but also in Europe.
In the Newhaven factory many things which had been instituted during the war years were still in place. These included the services of an 'errand boy' to collect shopping from the town for employees particularly those women on shift work and also the twice daily broadcasts of the BBC programme 'Music while you work' which were piped through the factory Tannoy system.
The 1950s were a time of extensive building works on the Newhaven site where approval had been given for construction of General Offices and a Works Canteen. In 1951 the first major factory building known as 'Bays 1-9' was carried out. Although constructed basically of war-time materials and poorly insulated, it actually lasted for forty years before being demolished. In 1955 a solid brick built office complex was constructed because the general office area was not big enough to house the rapidly expanding office staff. That building was in the form of a large 'H' and is always referred to as 'H Block'.
The 1960s , just like the previous decade, were a time of exceptional change and growth at Newhaven. In January 1960 the first two-storey extension of the factory was completed by local builders, Oxley & Bennett and was described at the time as 'one of the most modern factory buildings in the south of England'. Further work was carried out in 1968 when a new canteen and kitchen were constructed on the site of the old tennis courts.
The 1970's . At one time over 1,000 people were employed in the Newhaven factory, however, the Senior Management realised that this could not continue and plans were put in place to automate many of the operations.
The 1980's In early 1983 Newhaven became the new Area Headquarters for the European, African and Middle East operations, and also the centre for distribution for the whole of Europe of Parker products. In order to cope with future volumes of orders, a purpose built warehouse was constructed to the east of the factory. The warehouse, now affectionately known as 'The Barn', covered 4,645 sq mtrs and was, at that time, one of the largest warehouses of its type on the south coast.
In 1985 the company was losing money and when the Directors of the Company became aware of the imminent sale of the writing instruments group, they discussed possible ways of affecting a management buy-out. A buy-out team was put together and after significant negotiations, the business was acquired in January 1986 and Parker Pen Limited established its headquarters in Newhaven. In a relatively short space of time the fortunes of Parker Pen were turned round and it once again became a profitable company.
On Monday 10th October 1988 during the Centenary celebrations in Newhaven of the establishment of the Parker Pen Company, the Prime Minister the Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher, visited the new Headquarters of Parker Pen Limited. It was an inspiring visit by the Prime Minister who was given a detailed tour around the factory and offices after which she gave a speech to all the staff which was a fitting end to a momentous decade.
The 1990's. In 1991 the offices were refurbished in order to provide a new prestigious complex, accommodating the Distribution, UK Sales and Marketing sections all under one roof for the first time.
1993, At the time of 'the Buyout' in 1985, although the Directors owned the majority of the shares, they never intended to become permanent shareholders and in the spring of 1993 when the Parker Pen Company was acquired by the Gillette Company and the acquisition was complete, there was a certain amount of 'decentralisation' at Newhaven, with some operations being moved to Gillette's headquarters in Boston, while at the same time Gillette moved some of its own managers to Newhaven, particularly in the Personnel Department, which is now called Human Resources.
The New Millenium. August 2000. The Gillette Company sold their Stationery Division to USA Company 'Newell Rubbermaid' and Parker Pen now became part of Sanford their Stationery Division at that time the largest stationery division in the world. Following this, Sanford shifted some of its other product lines such as 'Rotring' and 'Berol' to the Newhaven factory, thus providing more work for the factory to assimilate.
November 2007, it was decided that manufacture of many of the lines would be moved to other factories outside the UK. Newhaven would retain some of the products but it would mean that the factory would be scaled down, and most of the office functions would move to Birmingham making nearly 200 people redundant. The idea behind the proposal is to make Newhaven 'a centre of excellence' for pen manufacture.
My thanks to Malcolm Troak for allowing me to use his book, Pen to Paper, as a reference for this 'brief history'.