The History and Origins of the Old Paint Company ~ Jenson & Nicholson
			HISTORY / OVERVIEW
		Jenson & Nicholson
		In 1821 a business was started by William Kingham, a craftsman specialising in carriage varnishing. The premises were at number 37, Barbican, in the city of London. Shortly after he started the company, he was joined by John Jenson. Quality varnishes and Japan Black were the first materials they produced on this site. William Kingham  died in 1844 and Jenson continued to run the business.
		Wilfred Nicholson started his commercial career with Grace Yallop & Co whose main business was in the manufacture of white lead from a factory in Bethnal Green. His first job with Grace Yallop was as a mercantile clerk and he rose to the rank of commercial traveller. It was through this aspect of his work he made contact with John Jenson.
		Running the business single-handedly proved a tremendous strain on John Jenson. According the Wilfred Nicholson's grandson ~Harry Kimber who wrote Wilfred Nicholson biography, it was John Jenson's wife Harriet, who first mooted the idea of a partnership between John Jenson and Wilfred Nicholson. The partnership was a legal entity by 1861
		John Jenson ~ from a painting		Wilfred Nicholson
		In 1861 Wilfred Nicholson joined the business and the manufacturing site moved to Belle Isle, just north of of what is now Kings Cross station. The name Belle Isle is something of a misnomer. It was an awful area with a host of factories ranging from bone boiling/glue manufacturing, candle making, varnish manufacturing, match makers, pigment manufacture through to bronze smelting. The factories were cheek to jowl with domestic dwellings.
		In November 2008 we received an e-mail from a Mr Taylor, whose mother had worked for Bernard Nicholson. It was a small ledger dated 1861 thro’ to 1868 and covered expanses and stock-taking summaries. It was signed by John Jenson ~ see below:
		In 1871, fire swept the premises and the company restarted the production in Goswell Road. By 1874 the business had moved to what was then a meadow in Stratford. The name 'Goswell Works' was for many years over one of the entrances to the site ~and we assume this was a reference to the earlier site in London
		Jenson & Nicholson factory circa 1929
		In 1874, Jenson retired, but the name Jenson and Nicholson was retained ~ usually referred to simply as "J & N's". The company was beginning to develop a strong industrial base. In 1922 the company expand through, what was the Commonwealth. Like many paint companies during the second world war, the business moved into different areas producing everything from lacquers for barrage balloon fabrics to special varnish treated silk bags and used in hospitals to treat burns. In 1946 the artist Terence Cuneo was commissioned to produce paintings and sketches of the factory at Stratford.
		a Cuneo painting entitled: 'a section of the Enamel Making Department'.
		a section of a Cuneo painting entitled: 'stock room and conveyor system'
		The company continued to expand after the second world war with overseas companies and the merger with John Hall & Sons of Bristol and in 1958 became the owners of Cuprinol wood preservative company in Frome. The company merged with Lewis Berger and Sons in 1960 to become Berger Jenson & Nicholson or B.J.N. as it became known.
		Although the name Jenson & Nicholson has gone with various mergers and acquisitions, there still exists in India a company that was originally part of the group. It is now a totally independent company and one of the largest producers of paint to the Indian subcontinent.
	Additional information to the history of Jenson & Nicholson is most welcome. There are at least two paintings by Terence Cuneo associated with Jenson and Nicholson operation of which we would like copies. One concerns the making/mixing of paint for the painting of the Crystal Palace and another called the Paint Store. There is some evidence that four smaller painting by Cuneo existed in the John Hall premises at Hengrove.
	The Cuneo Society would like any information on the paintings Terence Cuneo produced for the J & N calendars. They can be contacted through fotopc-reunion@beeb.net or direct to the Cuneo Society.