The Original Society of Papermakers was an early trade union in the United Kingdom.
While its existence was well-known, trade unions were illegal, and the secretary would often bury the books and other documents, to prevent their seizure.
In 1815, a meeting of the society at St Paul's Cray was raided, the secretary escaping through the window and travelling to Maidstone, where the headquarters remained thereafter.
In 1830, it split over a dispute about pay for producing ledger paper, with the two factions being known as The Star and The Deckle.
They reunited in 1837, but the 1840s proved a difficult decade, with strikes over reductions leading to one mill being burned down, the Scottish and Irish papermakers leaving the union, and the introduction of a scheme to assist members to emigrate.