Andrew Strahan

Andrew Strahan was the youngest son of William Strahan (1715–1785), and carried on his father's business with success, becoming one of the joint patentees, with John Reeves and George Eyre as the King's Printer. He retired in 1819. Between 1796 and 1820 he sat in Parliament successively for Newport, Wareham, Carlow Borough, Aldeburgh, and New Romney.

Strahan was a close friend of the inventor John Dickinson (1782–1869) and his family. He recommended the young John Dickinson as a apprentice to the stationer Thomas Harrison in London and supported him financially on several occasions, amongst others to establish himself as a paper trader in 1805 and to set up a paper producing company in 1809, which later evolved into the leading paper and stationery company John Dickinson & Co. Ltd.[1]

Strahan died on 25 August 1831 leaving an enormous fortune. In his will he left £1,000 to the Royal Literary Fund, and bequeathed £1,225 to the Stationers' Company. But Strahan also remembered all the Dickinson family, among them John Dickinson, who received £4,000.[2]

• Cochrane, J. A., Dr Johnson's Printer : The Life of William Strahan, 1964

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Strahan, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Andrew Strahan