Watford Museum

Printing first came to Watford in 1816 when Hugh Perry, applied for license to print. By 1884 the town had three printers: Peacock [Observer]; J Thickbroom [Watford Times]; E. Voss plus six stationers and the 1891 census showed 357 men and eight women directly employed in printing plus sixteen lithographer and two type cutters. Over the decades the industry continued to expand and by the mid-1930s Watford probably contained the greatest concentration of printing companies, employees and other allied resources in the world. Watford Museum tells the story of printing in the town including the impact of larger printing companies including Sun and Odhams, and the many printers and subsidiary businesses in the area making ink and paper to service the trade; it is no surprise therefore that one of the major exhibits at the museum relates to printing.