The Invicta Press was founded in
1881 by Herbert and Burgess Headley
in a small room above their father's
grocery shop at 46 High Street, Ashford.
The new firm offered a printing service
of paper bags, bill heads and circulars
to local traders and was an immediate
success.
In 1883 the brothers opened a stationery shop next door. Herbert Headley had a desire to produce a local newspaper with a strong emphasis on temperance and morality. Together with a friend he started the "Kent Examiner & Ashford Chronicle".
The friend, Barham Boorman, went on to produce the Kent Messenger. Today the Kent Messenger group publishes a large number of regional newspapers in Kent.
Gradually the firm moved into book printing, and later colour work. In 1892 a factory was built behind the High Street. After Burgess Headley visited America on a fact-finding tour, Headley Brothers was the third firm to install monotype in Europe.
In 1906 a disastrous fire destroyed the whole works. Within a fortnight however the entire staff was back at work at temporary premises. It was decided to rebuild on a fresh site at the lower end of Queens Road, where the factory still stands today.
In the 1920s the company developed a new market in the printing (and in some cases publishing) of learned publications. This work remains a proportion of the company's output.
After the 2nd World War the company grew rapidly on the printing of educational material for use around the Commonwealth.
During the 1970s the company made the big step from Letterpress to Litho and in 1976 installed its first Web press. This coincided with a move into the magazine production market, which now accounts for more than 80% of the company's output.
