Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clowes, William (1779-1847)
CLOWES, WILLIAM, the elder (1779–1847), printer, was born 1 Jan. 1779, at Chichester, where his father kept a school, and where he was apprenticed to a printer of the name of Seagrave. He came to London in 1802, and, after working as a compositor with Mr. Teape of Tower Hill, commenced business in the following year on a small scale on his own account in Villiers Street, Strand. He then married a cousin of Mr. Winchester, a stationer in the Strand, through whom he obtained a share of the government printing work. After some years' residence in Villiers Street, Clowes removed to larger premises, previously occupied by Mr. Clark, in Northumberland Court, Charing Cross, where (in 1823) he was the first to make use of steam machinery for bookwork printing. He was obliged to rebuild on account of a fire, and to defend an action for nuisance caused by his new engines brought by a neighbour, the Duke of Northumberland. The duke lost the action, but subsequently bought out Clowes, who, taking Applegath's business, removed to a site still occupied by the firm in Duke Street, Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road. In 1832 he was chosen by the executive of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge to print, from new machines made by Applegath and Cowper, the 'Penny Magazine,' the earliest instance of successfully printing woodcuts by steam. He also printed the 'Penny Cyclopædia' and other publications of the society. The chief features in his work were accuracy, speed, and quantity. The business increased rapidly, owing to Clowes's energy and enterprise. The course of its development may be seen from particulars coUected in 1839 by Sir F. B. Head (see Quarterly Review, December number), and by Timperley (Encyclopædia, p. 920). In 1846 he was turned out of his private residence in Parliament Street, where he had lived twenty-two years, to make room for railway offices, and retired to a country house at Banstead. By his wife, who died before him, he had four sons, all of whom were brought up to the business, and four daughters. He died at Wimpole Street on 26 Jan. 1847, and was buried in Norwood cemetery.
[Information from Mr. W. C. K. Clowes and Mr. W. Clowes; Description of Messrs. Clowes & Sons' printing office, Duke Street, Stamford Street, with a memoir of the late William Clowes (privately printed, n. d.); Smiles's Men of Invention and Industry, 1884; Gent. Mag. March 1847; Sussex Express, 30 Jan. 1847; Bookseller, June 1870.]