Print History: Titaghur Paper Mills - Paper Manufacturing in the 1890s

As India struggled to rebuild its industries which had been decimated by a century of predatory colonialism, factories using European technology began mushrooming across the length and breadth of the country in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The cotton textile industry, which India had globally dominated for two millennia, was at the forefront of this revival. But other industries were not far behind: mining, foundries, glass, chemicals and many other sectors also began to attract investment from private capital, both Indian and foreign. 
The printing industry, which had seen dramatic growth after 1860, was largely dependent on imported paper for its needs in this period.

Though India has a paper manufacturing tradition going back to at least the fourteenth century, the cost of indigenous handmade paper, which by its very manufacturing process was of a high quality, rendered it too expensive for most printing applications. Most printing presses imported their paper from Europe. The Indian paper industry, which had manufacturing centres all across the country, was also in a state of decay. Given its antiquated technology, it could not cope with the demands of a rapidly industrialising nation. The time was ripe for modern paper mills, which had been designed in 1799 in France, to make an appearance in India. 

 
A bird’s eye view of the Titaghur Paper Mills

Industrial tourism
Industrial tourism was all the vogue in India during the final decades of the nineteenth century. Urban biographies and guidebooks from that era exhorted their readers to visit textile mills, printing presses, flour mills, workshops and suchlike at every opportunity. For instance, in Hindustanma Musafari (a Gujarati travelogue published in 1871), the travellers, on a pan-India journey, made a special detour to Ranigunj Coalfields to observe deep shaft mining. Visitors to Bombay were urged to inspect its sprawling textile mills and the impressive machinery at the Times Press. The classic urban biography Govind Narayan’s Mumbai, originally published in 1863 in Marathi, suggests a visit to a paper mill: 

Continuing in the same tradition, the Gujarati travelogue Maro Pravas or My Travels by Manekji Cursetji Thanewalla is largely concerned with describing visits to industrial sites. Published privately in 1892, this brief travelogue written by a young man provides a glimpse of industrial India on the cusp of modernity. In July 1891, Thanewalla had just completed his mechanical engineering course at the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI) in Bombay and was awaiting his examination results. He set off on a whistle-stop tour of India and Burma with five friends or classmates.

Like him, they were Parsis and could expect hospitality from their compatriots at every place they visited. In most cities, they visited many of the popular historical sites but never missed an opportunity to visit factories and workshops. As they were recent engineering graduates, their curiosity about all things mechanical can easily be fathomed. Their first stop was the city of Calcutta which had a direct train connection from Bombay. About two hundred Parsis lived in Calcutta at this time; most of them were engaged in business or employed in commercial firms. The travellers already had connections with members of the Parsi community in Calcutta and were soon able to identify the places which they wanted to visit. 

The delivery of paper from Titaghur Paper Mills to the Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta (Source: wmcary.edu)

Titaghur Paper Mills 
In the 1890s, Calcutta was perhaps the most industrialised of all Indian cities. The Indian jute industry was concentrated in Calcutta and many of the largest engineering firms had their workshops in that city. It was the epicentre of the mining sector. It was still the print capital of India, a distinction it had held for nearly a century from the 1790s. The first experiments in manufacturing paper using a mechanised process was also made in Serampore near Calcutta. Probably started in the 1830s, the paper mill was famous for its white paper of middling quality known as ‘Serampore Paper’. It was subsequently designated as Bally Paper Mills and survived until the end of the century without any upgradation or investment. 

Calcutta was also the city where the first large scale paper manufacturing plant was built in the 1880s. It was located on the banks of the river Hooghly at Titaghur, just north of the city and a short train ride away. The Titaghur Paper Mills Co. Ltd. was set up by Reinhold & Co in 1882 but was soon taken over by F W Heilgers & Co who controlled a number of industrial concerns. The mill commenced operations in 1884. After overcoming a few teething troubles, the plant was able to supply good quality paper at a price cheaper than that of imported paper of a lower quality. The budding Parsi engineers visited this plant, perhaps at the invitation of their community brethren who were working in the paper mill in a supervisory role. Thanewalla describes this visit in his travelogue:

Thanewalla then goes on to describe the manufacturing process at the paper mill. The description is rather sketchy and Thanewalla does not get into the details of the workings of the paper manufacturing machine.

The travellers stayed overnight at Titaghur with their new Parsi friends and seem to have had a jolly time. The Sorabji brothers played a practical joke on them and caused them to miss their train to Calcutta the following morning. 

Advertisements for the Titaghur Paper Mills from the 1950s and 1960s

The Titaghur Paper Mills went on to become synonymous with paper in India. By 1910, it had taken over Imperial Paper Mills and Bally Paper Mills, both in the vicinity of Calcutta, to become the largest paper factory in India. The paper manufacturing industry also developed all across India and some of the leading mills of this period included the Girgaum Paper Mills (Bombay), Scindia Paper Mills (Gwalior), Reay Paper Mills (Pune), Bengal Paper Mills (Ranigunj), and the Upper India Paper Mills (Lucknow). An industrial gazetteer from 1917 (Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa: their history, people, commerce, and industrial resources) provides an overview of the operations of the Titaghur Paper Mills.

The Titaghur Paper Mills sold its paper under the ‘Elephant’ brand which soon became synonymous with paper in India. It was also used as a watermark on paper manufactured by the company. Its clients included provincial governments, railways, the princely states and many of the major printing presses. Though its management was largely European, its products — manufactured in India using Indian raw material and labour — were considered ‘Swadeshi’ and marketed as such by its dealers, in preference to imported paper. 

Epilogue
From Calcutta, Thanewalla and his friends went to Rangoon, another city where the Parsis had built a prominent presence. Coming back to Calcutta, they went to Darjeeling for a short stay. They then set off on a tour of north India visiting Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Mathura, Delhi and Jaipur. After a two-month tour, Thanewalla returned to Bombay by way of Baroda in November 1891, just in time to receive his Licentiate in Mechanical Engineering with a First Class Full Technological Certificate. He continued his education at VJTI and received his Licentiate in Textile Manufacture in 1893. He must have worked in the engineering and textile sector for a decade and more before becoming an entrepreneur. In 1906, he set himself up as an ‘Engineer & Contractor’ and founded Thanewala & Co. His travelogue, Maro Pravas, written to amuse his family and friends, did not make it to the footnotes of the Gujarati travel canon and was completely forgotten until its recent discovery. 

For over a century, the mills at Titaghur continued to manufacture paper before finally winding down its operations in the 1990s. The machinery and other paraphernalia still survive on the original site which would be an ideal location for any commemorative museum of print and paper in eastern India.