British pens

The golden age of British pen manufacturing is now well in the past and the remaining firms principally concentrate on high quality handmade items. My very first fountain pen was a Conway Stewart, so I have collected some vintage examples which may well be similar to the pens I started with. Conway Stewart ceased in 1975 but was relaunched in 1997 as a luxury pen brand. This again folded in 2014, but the remaining stock was bought by British Bespoke Pens who continue to produce the upmarket Conway Stewart pens.

Onoto have a similar history to Conway Stewart and were revived in 2005.

As has been noted in previous section, Parker were a major manufacturer in Britain for many years, but there were many other firms at one time.

At the cheaper end of the market, many will recall brands like Platignum and Osmiroid, the latter introducing many to the art of calligraphy.

We may not have the major manufacturers anymore, but the UK does a number of small craft pen makers, such as the Worcester Pen Company, Namisu from Scotland and Rockster from Wales.

Mr Pen specialise in custom ground nibs for their Italix range of pens. The bodies are made in China and the nibs are from Germany, but this should still be considered a British firm.

There are other firms, notable for their paid adverts on Amazon, which claim to be producing luxury British pens but are really just supplying own-branded Chinese manufactured pens. These are covered under the China section.