Horace Wickham

Raised in Glastonbury and Manchester, Horace Wickham received a common school education.

 

At age 17, he apprenticed with a Bristol clock manufacturer where he learned the machinist trade. Three years later, he began work at Whitney Gun Works in New Haven.

 

Plimpton Manufacturing Company

 

In 1869, Wickham joined the Plimpton Envelope and Paper Company. The successor of L. B. Plimpton & Co., it was organized as Plimpton Manufacturing Company in 1872.

 

Wickham was in charge of the mechanical and manufacturing departments. In this position, he soon realized that the envelope-making machinery could be greatly improved.

 

He developed a machine which simplified the process of envelope manufacture. The machine did the work in one operation – printing, embossing, gumming, folding and counting.

 

Wickham was granted a patent on May 2, 1876 and the machine was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

 

Wickham held about 40 patents for improvements in envelope-making machinery. He stayed at Plimpton during the life of his patents, retiring in 1898.

 

The Pines

 

In 1896, Wickham moved to Manchester and built an estate known as The Pines.

 

His son Clarence inherited the 130-acre estate upon his father’s death. After the passing of Clarence and his wife Edith, the estate became a private park, known today as Wickham Park.