A Record of the BAGE Family History

The modern process of manufacturing paper originated in China about 105AD when they used rags, rice stalks, etc. It came to Europe in the 12th century, being first recorded in Spain about 1150, and to Britain in 1492 (shortly after the printing press).

It consists of reducing wood fibre, straw, rags and grasses to a pulp by the action of an alkali, such as caustic soda. Wood has two principal constituents; cellulose and a complex substance called lignin that holds the cellulose fibres together, thus making the wood rigid. During the 'cooking' process the lignin is removed. and other non-cellulose material is extracted and the residue is bleached. After washing and the addition of a filler to provide a smooth and flat surface, the pulp is rolled into thin sheets and dried.

In the 1490's the first English site used for paper making was Sele Mill beside a stream by the name of the Beane which flows into the River Lea below Hertford, and was run by a John Tate, a citizen of London.

In the 1550's in Cambs there was Fen Ditton Mill.

Hard water was a contributing factor in the making of high quality paper.

In 1622 the first English newspaper appeared - The Weekly News, and in 1702 the first English daily newspaper, The Daily Courant (till 1735). The first evening newspaper, The Evening Post was issued in London in 1706 and in 1791 The Observer was published - the oldest Sunday newspaper.

In 1720 wallpaper became fashionable in England.

British rags were sold to the French, who used them to make cheap paper which they then sold back to the British. Later on the Germans and the Swiss also traded. In 1674 we imported 160,000 reams of paper, mainly from France. The value of imported paper into England in 1668/9 was nearly £88,000. From 1686 to 1688 we imported up to £100,000 p.a.

In 1675 a Patent was granted to Eustace Burnely to make white paper. In 1678 a book printed on English white paper was presented to His Majesty the King.

There were 38 mills working during the first half of the 17th century. Mills were set up in Nottingham at that time.

In the last quarter of the 17th century, French refugee paper makers were arriving in England. In 1681 French Protestant paper makers arrived in Plymouth. In 1685 French paper makers had set up new invented mills and engines not seen in England before. The first manufacturer of fine paper was established in London by the French refugees.

In 1692 England was exporting paper from London.

In 1713 John BAGE was working Ollerton Mill in Nottinghamshire. In 1729/30 a John BAGE was married and in 1740 his son George BAGE was baptised. The daughter of George BAGE, Elizabeth BAGE was baptised in 1774. George BAGE, papermaker, died in 1789.

In the years 1651-1700 there was a Papermill at Hunwick in County Durham.

In the 1730's there were 278 paper mills in England and Wales.

In 1730 Joseph BAGE, papermaker at Epperstone Mill, Nottinghamshire was married.

Northumberland Mill No. 3 at Newcastle in 1741 probably made white paper.

In 1738 there were 278 mills and 338 Vats in England and Wales.

In 1746 George BAGE, papermaker, of Darley Abbey Mill, Derby was married. In 1751 Robert BAGE is at this mill and in 1781 John BAGE had the tenure.

Joseph BAGE had a paper mill at Dee Bridge, Chester in the 1760's. (He had a son, also a papermaker who died before him - see copies of wills)

In 1767 Thomas BAGE, papermaker of Lamesley Mill, County Durham was married.

In 1785, 381 licences were granted. In 1800, 417 licences were granted.

In 1788 noteworthy developments were taking place in South Northumberland and North Durham. The districts centred on Newcastle upon Tyne with mills along the River Tyne and its middle and lower tributaries and Mid Durham the streams tributary to to the River Wear to the south, and south west of the City of Durham.

Developments were also taking place in Derbyshire.

In 1793 Robert BAGE was working as papermaker at Haywood Wharf Mill, Shugborough, Staffordshire.

In 1798 the continuous paper machine was invented by a Mr. Robert and in 1808 the Foudrinier brothers set up the first paper-making machine in Britain at St. Neots. In 1809 the cylinder machine was introduced by John Dickinson. In 1816 Excise Mill Numbers begin. Newspaper tax was reduced from 4 pence to one penny in 1836.

In 1854 the Times offered £1000 for the discovery of a new raw material for paper.

In 1861 Excise duty on paper in the U.K. ended. The American Civil War led to a shortage of cotton. In about 1883 the use of wood for papermaking began in Britain (Ekman).

In 1885 Eastman made the first coated photographic paper.

- Dard Hunter 'Papermaking, the History & Technique of an Ancient Craft' (1978). frontispiece.

As early paper was made from rags of linen, flax or jute, by the seventeenth century rags were so scarce in England that it was decided to forbid by statute the use of linen for burial shrouds, the needs of the paper manufacturing industry being considered more important, this produced the ''Acts for burying in Woollen'' (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London. Preamble to - ''An Act for Burying in Woollen Onely. For the encouragement of the Woollen Manufacturers of this Kingdome and Prevention of the Exportation of the moneys thereof for the buying and importing of Linnen.'' 18 & 19 Car II Chap IV.) of 1666, 1678 and 1680. One peripheral requirement of the Acts was that relatives of the deceased were to swear affidavits (recorded in a book kept by the parish) that the law had been satisfied. Failure to do so rendered them subject to a fine of five pounds. The Law remained on the Statute Book until the nineteenth century, but proved ineffective; the rich were not deterred from using linen by such a small fine, while the poor who could not afford linen had to use woollen cloth. In one year it was estimated that approximately two hundred thousand pounds of linen and cotton were saved for the papermakers.

The process by which paper is made looks astonishingly simple, but it is quite complex. Seven years were needed for an apprentice to master these skills, which is the knowledge of nearly two thousand years of papermaking. It was not until 1150 that these skills reached Europe, where cotton of 'rag' was the material used up to about 1800. The cotton arrived in cartloads at the mill, and was cut up, usually by a team of women into rough squares of five inches. This cut waste went into a boiler where it was boiled in caustic soda to remove impurities. The next stage was called 'breaking' in which the material was crushed and ground in constantly running water to destroy any remaining thread or weave pattern, and would seperate the fibres and remove all traces of caustic dirt. This could have been one of the reasons why the Bages flooded the fields. (N.R.O. Manorial Records DDSR 213/7) Water power was used to drive the machinery which pounded the rags into a pulp, and a constant supply of pure water was essential for mixing with the rags. The resultant thick cotton and water pulp, called 'half stuff' was then beaten by hand, this further crushed the fibres to make them absorb more water and increase the area of contact for better bonding later. (Readers Digest. Traditional Crafts in Britain. The Papermaker. (Sevenoaks 1982) p.152) A Vat was filled to within a few inches of its brim with the half stuff, and agitated by means of a pole or potching stick, which towards the end of the eighteenth century was replaced by a mechanical paddle called a 'hog'. From the pulp the ' vatman ' formed a sheet of paper by inserting a wire sieve, a mould of the required size, and then giving it a series of shakes. The surplus water fell off and a mat of interlocking fibres of the pulp was formed. It was taken off the mould and laid by 'coucher' alternately with woollen felts to form a pile of one hundred and forty four sheets. It was important that these two workmen worked together. A pile of six quires was termed a 'post', and the next operation was to place the post in a press to expel the excess water.. As these presses had to yield an immense pressure, they were massive and cumbersome, and were one of the most expensive appliances of the old paper mills. After the post had been placed under the platen of the press, all the workers in the various parts of the mill were summoned together by the ringing of a bell to exert their strength in turning down the screw of the press by means of a long wooden lever. . After pressing, the weight of the paper and felts from the loss of the water has been reduced tenfold, and the fibres of the sheets of paper have become so matted and felted together that the sheets could be lifted from the woollen cloths without tearing. The third workman was known as the ' layman ', and it was his duty to free each sheet of paper from the interleaving felts, and to place the sheets in a neat and even pile, one upon another, on an inclined stool or bench. The felts were returned to the coucher to be used in making the following post.

By long hours of diligent work it was possible for the three workmen to make twenty posts or about five and one half reams of paper a day. (Hunter. Papermaking.p 185) After the sheets had been placed directly one upon another by the layman, the pile was again subjected to pressure. After this second pressing, the sheets of paper were seperated, again built into a pile, but in different rotation, and subjected to a little heavier pressure than could have been given before, owing to the tendancy of the sheets to stick together. This rearrangement of the sheets was repeated until the paper acquired the desired smoothness of finish.

The next process was the drying (Hunter. Papermaking. p 186-8) of the paper. They were taken in ' spurs ' of four or five sheets, as in this moist state they adhered together. Had the sheets been dried separately they would have wrinkled. The drying lofts were rooms where the air was reasonably free from dirt or soot, and often fitted with sliding wooden shutters to let the air in. The spurs of paper were hung over ropes that had been woven from cow or horse hair, coated with beeswax and supported by wooden frames which stretched throughout the loft.

The life of a worker was anything but indolent. (Hunter. Papermaking. p 242) He was to be at the mill by six in the morning, ready for work, and did not leave until six in the evening. His lunch was usually consumed while working, but a more lenient master allowed 15-20 minutes for this.

The vatmen and couchers, (Hunter. Papermaking. p 243) had to have strong and robust constitutions, but the constant stooping posture, combined with the heat from the paper stock in the vat, made them grow old prematurely. The vatman and the coucher , who interchanged their work, could readily be distinguished by their red, muscular arms and hands and by the stooping backs, brought about by having their arms in and out of warm water constantly, and by bending over the dipping vat and coucher's stool. (Hunter. Papermaking. p 245). The old mills were inadequately heated, and the vat-houses were usually located where the light was poor, the atmosphere damp and gloomy, and on the whole unhealthy. All through the history of papermaking by hand there was a scarcity of workers, due to the unwillingness of apprentices to learn a trade so disagreeable and arduous; only those with exceptional physical endurance could remain long at the craft. The greatest strain was required of the vatman, owing to the four-ay motion that he had to give to the mould in forming each separate sheet. After working years at the vat he sometimes lost this 'stroke' and was never able to form a sheet of paper again. Sometimes this paralysis has been known to attack workman for different periods, during which times they were unable to work at the moulding of paper; then the ability to give the 'stroke' or 'shake' returned.

Yet with all the disagreeable features of their craft, the old papermakers were a happy and contented guild of workmen. (Hunter. Papermaking. p 246) They were extremely proud of their craft, for the apprenticeship was long, the work demanded dexterity and skill, and to become a proficient moulder and coucher of fine paper required no little ability of head and hand.

The Bages would have used their women of the family in the sorting of the rags, and they also employed Samuel Ginever who had been trained by John Bonsor of West Retford, but had come to Ollerton in 1765 with a Settlement Certificate for himself, wife and child to be taken back by Farndon (N.R.O. Settlement Certificate PR 243/1/39) should it be necessary. He stayed and worked in the papermill and gained settlement in Ollerton in 1777, (N.R.O. Settlement Examination PR 244/18) and he died in 1788. Joseph Shacklock, his wife and family also had a Settlement Certificate to be taken back to Bolsover, (N. R. O. Settlement Certificate PR 243/1/98) where Joseph had trained as a felt maker for seven years under his father. They had come to Ollerton in 1755, when they rented a tenement at two pounds eight shillings a year, but they paid no taxes. In 1766 he had increased his land and the rent was then five pounds eight shillings, and he paid taxes against this, but these had not been charged against his name.

So, from this it seems that the Bages had the services of two felt makers. Also Thomas Hogg, papermaker, who had been bound for seven years to Alexander Mackey of Tanfield, Co. Durham was here in Ollerton. His document says he is from Ollerton, and went away to be trained. (N.R.O. Settlement Examination PR 11/340) At an earlier date William and Ann Elvidge had come to Boughton and their four children had been born in Ollerton, but Ann and William died in 1772 and 1773 respectively (N.R.O. Ollerton Parish Registers). It was not until February 1777 that the parish took any action, when they ordered the sale of the Elvidge goods, which amounted to three pounds, and that the children be returned to the legal place of settlement of their parents. In July the two eldest boys were granted apprentice indentures, William at fourteen to a framework knitter, Edward Dean, and Thomas now eight to George Bage, to learn the trade of papermaker and to dwell with him until he reaches the age of twenty one. What happened to Sarah who was ten and John six, we do not know. In July 1782 John now eleven comes to serve with his brother at the paper mill.

We do not know when the Paper mill closed down, or whether the executors and family tried to carry on after George died, but it was converted into a bone crushing mill and tannery in 1830, being run by a Robert Gravenor, and then by Evelyn Abbot until the 1850's.

There was a heap of masonry left on the site in 1985, all that remained of the paper mill.

Nicholas-Louise Robert (1761-1828) patented the first papermaking machine in 1799. It made paper in great lengths using a continuous conveyor belt system and was driven by turning a handle. The prepared mixture of water and pulp was poured into an oval chest then picked up by rotating copper bars and discharged on to the upper surface of an endless wire mesh running on two end rollers. The pulp passed between felt-covered squeezing rollers, removing most of the water so that the web lifted off the wire and could be coiled on a roller. The tension of the wire was adjusted by a screw. The wire was shaken by a cross-bar driven by a wheel. This cross-bar could also be raised or lowered to alter the slope of the wire and thus the rate of water loss.