Henry Stone & Son Limited was a Banbury-based printers and cabinet-makers.
Henry Stone (1818-1895) started his career as a bookseller and stationer. In around 1871, Stone started selling patent boxfiles, based on the design of his brother-in-law John Cash. From 1872, the business operated from premises in Parsons Street, Banbury, with a shop in the High Street. Henry's son Lewis Stone (1859-1925) became increasingly involved in the business from the late 1870s, and would take over its management in the early 1880s. In 1884, production was moved to purpose-built factory premises in Gatteridge Street. Over the years, the business developed into producing a range of cardboard boxes, along with office furniture, such as cabinets and card drawers, and colour printing services. In 1899, the business was incorporated as Henry Stone & Son Ltd., a joint printers and cabinetmakers. J.A. Milne became joint managing director in 1904. In 1949, the furniture-producing side of the business, which used the trade name Fyne Lady, and the printers element of the business, both became subsidiary limited companies, Henry Stone & Son (Furniture) Ltd. and Henry Stone & Son (Printers) Ltd. The company continued trading until going into administration in 2018.
The collection comprises records of the business, including annual reports, sales catalogues, financial and shareholder papers and title deeds, along with papers and journals of members of the Stone family of Banbury and their relations the Cash family of Coventry.
The majority of the papers were gifted in 2019 as accession 6757, following the closure of Stones of Banbury. A collection of family and business papers was deposited by Jeremy Gibson, grandson of Lewis Stone, in 2015 as accession 6389. A small number of papers primarily relating to the subsiduary furniture company were deposited in 1988 as accession 2806 and a sales ledger was gifted as accession 3335 in 1991.
Catalogued by Katherine Kinrade in October 2019.