Dorland: Its Origins and Growth until 1939

Ian Keil and Elizabeth Hennessy

The historian of Dorland faces many of the frustrations that the tantalus gives to a keyless drinker: there are highly tempting questions visible about the company's development, but many answers depend on archives which have disappeared.

Dorland: Its Origins and Growth Until 1939

Elizabeth HennessyJournalist and Historian andIan Keil Loughborough University of Technology

This article sketches the origins of the firm in the United States of America, the roles of Walter Edge and George Kettle in establishing a London branch of the firm, and the evolution of the London office into an independent company under Kettle's leadership in 1917.

After the end of the First World War, the firm grew and faced various challenges and opportunities. Dorland absorbed or merged with some companies; it developed a specialised financial advertising office; it had...

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