Business premises of L T Watkins and the Quality Furnishing Co Ltd, Wellington

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Lemuel Thomas Watkins (1874-1951) apprenticed as a compositor and printer at Smith, Anthony Sellars Ltd., in his native Christchurch. He worked on both sides of the Tasman at the turn of the century including stints in Wellington with Robert Coupland Harding, Messrs McKee & Co., and C.M. Banks, and with H.J. Weeks in Christchurch. Watkins applied to be Government Printer of Western Australia, but later withdrew his application when appointed works manager at the New Zealand Times in Wellington where, amongst many jobs, he was solely responsible for producing the highly successful full-colour Christmas number of The Mail. After raising £5,000 capital through a private joint stock company float, he bought the Progress Printing Company and entered into a short-lived partnership with his former Times co-workers Tyer and Tolan. In 1911, he bought out their shares and became sole proprietor of L.T. Watkins Ltd., a respected printing, stationery, and bookbinding firm which provided a solid foundation for the busy and profitable Wellington book trade.

Further Reading:

• L.T. Watkins. Mellowed Memories. The Outline and Incidents during seventy happy and useful years, the lifetime of one of the First Generation of New Zealand's 'White Maoris.' 1944 rpt; Hutt City: privately printed, 1992.