Sir Sydney

In 1810 James Waterlow opened a shop in Birchin Lane selling copies of legal documents produced by lithography. The firm printed its first stamps in 1852, for British Guiana.

The business expanded, and the four sons of James Waterlow, Alfred, Walter, Sydney and Albert, joined the partnership, and branches were opened at Westminster and London Wall.

James died in 1876, and the firm became a limited liability company. In 1877 there was a family dispute and Alfred, the eldest son, and his sons and Alfred Thomas Layton, formed Waterlow Bros. & Layton retaining the Birchin Lane premises. The other brothers, under the Managing Directorship of Sir Sydney (as he had become after being Lord Mayor of London in 1872) continued Waterlow & Sons Limited ("W. & S."), operating from London Wall, Finsbury Market and other factories. In 1887, on the death of Alfred, Waterlow Bros & Layton became a company ("W.B.& L.").

In 1920 the two companies amalgamated, thus ending 43 years of close competition.

In 1932 disaster struck the Company in the form of a House of Lords judgement to pay the Bank of Portugal £610,392, and it has been said the Company never fully recovered from this drain on its resources.

In 1952 the Company celebrated "A Century of Stamp Production" and a booklet by that name, written by L.N. and M. Williams (44 pages) is indeed a tribute to a proud record. Unfortunately, although listing all the stamp production of the company over the previous 100 years, the list did not distinguish which was W.& S. and which W.B.& L. However the range of customers was most impressive.

At the end of 1960 the assets of Waterlow & Sons Limited were acquired by De La Rue & Co. Ltd., and subsequently material from the Waterlows archives has become available, the sample stamps in the 1960's, the file copies and record sheets from about 1975 and the die proofs in the mid 1980's.