company history

The Orphans Printing Press was established in 1873 by Henry Stanley Newman. The business was intended to support the recently founded Leominster Orphans Homes.

It was intended that the press should serve three main functions:

• To provide industrial training for at least some of the orphans in it's care
• To generate monies to support the homes
• And to publish materials which would act as a force for good

With a gas powered press valued at £100 the children set to work, 3 hours in the morning with the afternoon set aside for schooling. By 1874 Newman noted that 'there seems to be a more healthy tone about them, now they feel they are earning their own bread and learning a useful trade'. Shortly the Elementary Education Act was to prohibit employment of children. Nonetheless the seeds had been planted and several of the children went on to work within the business. After Newman's death in 1912 Orphans Press became a limited company although close ties remained with the homes. The business has been family owned for many years. We would like to think that Mr Newman would recognise in the current business many of the qualities and standards he was instrumental in introducing at the conception of Orphans Press.