James Cropper plc

{{short description|English papermaking company}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox company

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| logo = File:Logo_of_James_Cropper_plc.png

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| industry = Papermaking

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| founded = 1845

| founder = James Cropper (1823–1900)

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| hq_location_city = Burneside, Kendal

| hq_location_country = England

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| key_people = James Cropper (Hon. Pres.)
Mark Cropper (Chairman)
Steve Adams (CEO)

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| website = {{URL|https://www.jamescropper.com/}}

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James Cropper plc is an English papermaking company based in Burneside, Kendal, Cumbria, England. The company was founded in 1845 by James Cropper (1823–1900), whose great-great-grandson James Cropper is the Honorary President of the company.

The company have been at the same site at Burneside since 1845. There were earlier mills on the same site including a sickle mill and a fulling mill which were bought in 1750 by John Wakefield who built a woollen mill on the site in 1760 and converted the sickle mill for cotton 1770. In 1828 the mill was leased to Hudson and Forster who installed second-hand papermaking machines, and in 1845 James Cropper rented the premises.{{cite web |title=Burneside Paper Mill |url=https://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/a-z-of-industries/paper/burneside-paper-mill/ |website=Industrial History of Cumbria |publisher=Cumbria Industrial History Society |access-date=20 January 2021}}

File:Entrance to James Cropper, Burneside Mills, Burneside (geograph 2164035).jpg

Croppers have pioneered the recycling of disposable coffeecups,{{cite news |title=James Cropper takes significant step towards recycling coffee cups |url=https://packagingeurope.com/james-cropper-takes-significant-step-towards-recycling/ |access-date=20 January 2021 |work=Packaging Europe |date=30 January 2019 |language=en-gb}}{{cite news |last1=Abbott |first1=Jez |title=Royal visit marks opening of James Cropper pioneering recycling plant |url=https://www.printweek.com/news/article/royal-visit-marks-opening-of-james-cropper-pioneering-recycling-plant |access-date=20 January 2021 |work=Printweek |date=17 July 2013 |language=en}} and have also produced a range of recycled paper for the luxury packaging market.{{cite web |title=James Cropper presents 100% recycled paper collection for premium packaging |url=https://packagingeurope.com/james-cropper-presents-recycled-paper-collection/ |website=Packaging Europe |access-date=20 January 2021 |language=en-gb |date=25 June 2020}}

The company produces specialist paper for the manufacture of The Royal British Legion's Remembrance poppies: when a decision was made in 1978 to move from fabric to paper poppies, Croppers produced a paper which could be crimped into shape and with colour which could be sure not to rub off onto clothing.{{cite web |title=The Poppy Story |url=https://www.jamescropper.com/partner-stories/ww1-centenary-red-flower-of-remembrance |website=James Cropper PLC |access-date=20 January 2021 |language=en}}

A historian was commissioned to write a history of the company but failed to deliver, at which point the current chairman Mark Cropper (great-x-3-grandson of the founder) stepped in to write The Leaves We Write On: James Cropper, a History in Paper-Making (Ellergreen, 2004: {{ISBN|0954919114}}).{{cite news |title=Mark Cropper: From Paperback Writer to Power Broker |url=https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/mark-cropper-from-paperback-writer-to-power-broker/ |access-date=20 January 2021 |work=The Manufacturer |date=2 April 2012}}{{cite news |last1=Witt |first1=David |title=Book Review: The Leaves We Write On |url=https://www.soue.org.uk/souenews/issue7/leaves.html |access-date=20 January 2021 |work=SOUE News |publisher=Society of Oxford University Engineers}}

In 2021 the company entered a three-year agreement as "headline sponsors" of the Wainwright Prize for nature and conservation writing.{{cite web |title=Sponsors & Partners |url=https://wainwrightprize.com/sponsors-partners/ |website=Wainwright Prize |access-date=8 September 2021|archive-date=5 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805135812/https://wainwrightprize.com/sponsors-partners/}}