John Dickinson Stationery

[7] The mill-house at Nash Mill, called Nash House, became the family home of Dickinson and his new wife Ann (née Grover), whose father Harry Grover supported this business development through his Hemel Hempstead Bank (now part of Lloyds Bank) in Hemel Hempstead.

Soon Nash Mills was renowned for its production of tough thin paper for Samuel Bagster's "Pocket Reference Bible".

At the same time, the company started to concentrate more on the stationery side of the business, since papermaking was no longer profitable.

The Apsley plant was reconstructed and concentrated on making envelopes, while paper production was transferred to the more modern Croxley Mill.

[13] John Dickinson patented a method of papermaking in June 1809 that rendered his rivals' techniques (principally the Fourdrinier machine) obsolete.

The production of fine rag paper on electrically driven machines was a successful innovation at Nash Mill.

[14] The company produced various paper and cardboard products for the war effort, and also branched out into engineering, producing items such as fuel tanks for long range fighter aircraft, 20 mm cannon shells, aircraft fuel pumps, magnetos and spark plugs.

The company made the foil strips codenamed Window used by the RAF to blind enemy radar.