Thomas Ross & Son

Thomas Ross & Son, also known as Ross's, is an English fine art printers, founded in 1833 in London.
The privately held company is a publisher of fine art prints and a specialist in intaglio printmaking, with a significant archive collection dating back to 1700, including old master prints, totalling circa 10,000 images. The company is particularly known for traditional printmaking by hand, and watercolour by hand. They publish editions of historical engravings, etchings and mezzotints from copper plates.
The company was founded as Dixon & Ross in 1833 by father John Dixon, and son Henry Dixon, formerly of Dixon & Son, along with William Ross. The Dixons eventually left the company, which passed to William Ross's relative Thomas Ross. By 1876 the company was renamed after Thomas Ross. Thomas Ross' son joined the company, leading it to be renamed in 1886 as Thomas Ross & Son.

″What you really ought to do is to pay a visit to a proper engraver's printer, such as Messrs Ross and Son, of 70, Hampstead Road.″ – Percy H. Martindale, Engraving Old and Modern

Praised by the jury of the Exposition Universelle (1855) in Paris, alongside only two other British printing companies, both would later be acquired by Thomas Ross & Son.

History

June 21, 1833 – The earliest recorded date in the company's archives: an expense for shop signage displaying Dixon & Ross at 4 St James's Place, London. A former stable.
1837 – Records show the account of J. M. W. Turner, charged for proofing his plates worked by the engraver John Goodall.
1864 – St James's Place, Hampstead Road, London is combined with, and renamed to Hampstead Road, London.
1876 – Renamed as Thomas Ross.
1886 – Renamed as Thomas Ross & Son.
1905 – Ownership transferred to Alfred Edwin Pomeroy, and remained in the Pomeroy family.
19xx – Alfred Henry Seex Pomeroy son of Alfred Edwin Pomeroy, became managing director.
1956 – Acquisition of the older firm of plate printers, McQueen & Co. by merger. Master printmaker Philip McQueen joined, bringing the stock of his family firm.
1963 – Frances Beryl S Pomeroy, known as Beryl Pomeroy, great-granddaughter of Alfred Edwin Pomeroy, became managing director, publishing new mezzotints by Lawrence Josset and Arthur Hogg, printed in colour by George Hardcastle.
1985 – Ownership transferred to the Nutburn family of Reading, Berkshire and incorporated as Thomas Ross Ltd, registered in Southampton.

Years	Managing Director	Notes	Ref.
1833–	William Ross John Dixon & Henry Dixon	Possibly William Burdett Ross brother of Thomas Ross. Sons of Thomas Ross. All three were 'steel and copper plate printers'.
1876–1886	Thomas Ross	Brother of William Burdett Ross. Born: 16 August 1808 • St Marys Newington, Surrey Died: 15 December 1886 • 70 Hempstead Rd, Middlesex
1886–1905	Thomas Ross Jnr	Son of Thomas Ross. Born: 21 June 1833 • St Pancras, London Died: 13 December 1907 • St Pancras, London
1905–	Alfred Edwin Pomeroy	Who joined as an apprentice thirty years earlier.
19xx–63	Alfred Henry Seex Pomeroy	Son of Alfred Edwin Pomeroy.
1963–89	Frances Beryl S Pomeroy known as Beryl Pomeroy	Grand-daughter of Alfred Edwin Pomeroy. The business was sold to the Nutburn family in Reading.
1989–current	Nutburn family	Restructured as Thomas Ross Ltd, part of The Nutbrown Group.

Other companies

Dixon & Son, 29 Tottenham Street, Fitzroy Square . Founded by John Dixon and later with son Henry Dixon.

Henry Dixon would found Henry Dixon & Son, 112 Albany Street, London. A successful fine art photographers, with his son Thomas James Dixon. Henry Dixon had apprenticed to his elder brother, Thomas Dixon as copperplate printer; also apprenticed to Thomas Ross 1836 – 1843.