‘Make Something Better and People will buy it' - George Safford Parker, 1888

In 1636 William Parker left Dover, Kent with his wife Mary and set sail for the New World. Their dream was to make a better life in a new country. They settled in New England.

Over two hundred years later George Parker's parents, in the best frontiersman tradition, trekked out of New England to the Mid West.

Born in Shullsberg, Wisconsin on the 1st November 1863, George Safford Parker started his working life in 1880 at the Valentine School of Telegraphy at Janesville, Wisconsin (where he was to later open the first of his three major manufacturing plants). After answering an advertisement for a position at the school, he saved up the $55 for fees and enrolment, and within one year he was on the staff.

In order to supplement his poor wage, George Parker became an ?Agent? selling fountain pens ? primarily to his students ? for the John Holland Fountain Pen Company. Like most of the pens at this time, they often had technical problems. Amongst these were leakage of ink from the barrel and nib, as well as an inadequate flow of ink to the nib.

After receiving many complaints from his students, Parker felt obligated to repair the pens and his reputation for after-sales service grew. He would dismantle the pens, repair them and then return then to his students.

Eventually Parker decided that he needed to eradicate these faults rather than just fix them. So, armed with his knowledge of the mechanisms and with his philosophy, ?Make something better and people will buy it? (a philosophy he followed passionately throughout his life), he designed and finally built his own fountain pen. Less than a year later, George Safford Parker was in the pen business.

Since 1888 the Parker Pen Company has been devoted to making the Better Pen. With the tradition of excellence born of George Parker's determination to make something better, his legacy of pride has only been strengthened over the years.From teacher to pen maker and corporate founder, from student to President and Royalty, the Parker story, from its humble beginning, has developed into a classic tale of how one man's determination and inventiveness has shaped an industry.

1889 George Parker took out his first patent

1891 George Parker entered into partnership with W.F. Palmer, an insurance man who wanted in on the pen business. Palmer persuaded Parker to sell him half his shares in both the patents and the business for a cost of $1,000. The check was made payable to the Parker Pen Company, thus starting the successful and very profitable partnership between Parker and Palmer.

1892 On the 8th March the Parker Pen Company was legally incorporated.