Andrew Strahan

Andrew Strahan (1749–1831) was an MP and printer who served as the King's Printer.

Biography

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]

References

1. Joan Evans (great nice of John Dickinson): „The Endless Web - John Dickinson & Co. Ltd 1804-1954“, pp. 2-4 and 13, Jonathan Cape, London 1955
2. Joan Evans (great nice of John Dickinson): „The Endless Web - John Dickinson & Co. Ltd 1804-1954“, p. 54, Jonathan Cape, London 1955

Sources

• 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.

External links

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

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Jervoise Clarke Jervoise Edward Rushworth	Member of Parliament for Newport (Isle of Wight) 1796–1800 With: William Hamilton Nisbet 1796–1800 Sir George Dallas 1800	Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Newport (Isle of Wight) 1801–1802 With: Sir George Dallas	Succeeded by John Blackburn Richard Gervas Ker
Preceded by Joseph Chaplin Hankey John Calcraft	Member of Parliament for Wareham 1802–1807 With: John Calcraft 1802–1806 Jonathan Raine 1806–1807	Succeeded by Sir Granby Calcraft Hon. John Ward
Preceded by Hon. F. J. Robinson	Member of Parliament for Carlow Borough 1807–1812	Succeeded by Frederick Falkiner
Preceded by Sir John Aubrey Sandford Graham	Member of Parliament for Aldeburgh 1812–1818 With: The Lord Dufferin and Claneboye	Succeeded by Samuel Walker Joshua Walker
Preceded by William Mitford Cholmeley Dering	Member of Parliament for New Romney 1818–1820 With: Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor 1818–1819 Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor 1819–1820	Succeeded by Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor George Hay Dawkins-Pennant