Robinson and Sons was founded in Chesterfield in 1839, they started out with 25 employees, creating square pill boxes from chipboard and round willow boxes for medical ointments. In the 1860s they began producing medical cotton wool and later acquired the patent for Gamgee tissue which was the basis for modern surgical dressings.
Initiatives to improve employee welfare were set up in the 1920s, including a preparatory school, access to low-cost housing and a popular canteen and social venue at Bradbury Hall.
By 1952, Robinson's had patented the first-ever disposable nappy system with Paddi and Cosifits, and soon after produced some of their most iconic packaging - the Little John Drum spiral tube box for Rowntree’s Smarties. At this time, they were producing over 43 million Quaker cereal boxes per year and, by 1960, employing 5,000 staff worldwide.
The company shifted towards plastic manufacturing in the 1970s and 80s, and evolved to become Robinson plc in 2004, producing high-quality custom packaging for the personal care, luxury gift and food sectors with sites in Chesterfield and Poland.
Follow this link to find out more about Robinson's history.
Derbyshire Record Office
Our collections span 900 years of Derbyshire history. We have around three million items and that's ever-growing. It's nearly 9,000 collections – and a collection can be one item, or it could be 400 boxes of items.
The vast majority of the Robinson’s collection came to us from the business, but there are additions from people who used to work there – copies of The Link magazine, photographs from events – things that will help people in the future understand how a business ran. It's always fascinating to see what sparks that bit of imagination in somebody else.
Karen Millhouse, Archivist, Derbyshire Record Officea.
Volunteers
Alison Bowry
Eve Connor
Terry Fox
Penny Soames
Martyn Stonehouse
Explore more..
Robbos
6' 30", 2026
A film by Kate Anderson
Online in November 2026
Robinson and Son has been a thriving industry for Chesterfield for 200 years and the archive is 200 years of family history. It’s big! So many different angles to look at. But I came back round to the thing that I was always curious about - the innovation that Robinson’s have always done with their products and the materials and processes.
From a humble pill box manufacturer, modifying the machinery and the techniques, then seeing a gap where they could make a product and pursuing that and discovering new materials, employing a lot of business sense as well, not hesitating to file patents and being able to be a leader in the market.
And also innovative in terms of the way they look after the employees. Those two things: a progressive outlook and care for the workers in unison with that progressive company outlook and looking to expand the company.
Kate Anderson
Kate is an animator, illustrator and comic artist telling stories through digital and analogue drawing, as well as film and installation projection. She graduated with an MA in Animation from the Royal College of Art and has since produced a wide range of moving image work, including the video for Liz Green’s ‘Displacement Song,’ which won the award for Best Music Video at the British Animation Awards.
One of her ongoing projects is called ‘Meeting Trees,’ in which she travels across the UK meeting and drawing the portraits of 50 trees from the book ‘The Great British Trees’. Explaining this project on her blogspot, Kate writes that “With the possibility to exist for hundreds or even thousands of years, trees are exceptional living witnesses to our histories... That I can go to Sherwood Forest and pat the lumbering oak that (as legend has it) was once Robin Hood's hideout makes me grin with wonder, just as when I was 5 years old.”
Robbos credits
A film by Kate Anderson
Audio post production – Fonic
Christopher Swaine, Sound Design and Dubbing Mixer
Cécile Janet, Sound Effects Editor
Eugénie Dunster, Audio Post Production Coordinator
Graham Slack, Composer
Anna Dick, Edit Consultant
Bill Bingham, Voice of Philip M Robinson
Thanks: Zillah Stevenson, Elaine Hancock, and Guy Robinson at Robinson and Sons;
Maria Barnes and Charlotte McCrory, Chesterfield Museum Service; Kate Parker
Current and former workers at Robinson and Sons
