The Government Printing Office was established approximately one hundred and sixty-one (161) years ago by a gentleman known as Mr. John Drape, who introduced printing in St. Vincent around 1844 and became the first Government Printer. No official date was given for Mr. Drape’s retirement or departure from the printery. He was succeeded by Mr. Winsboro, who held the position of Government Printer until 1924, when he died while in office.
Mr. J. B. Garraway, who was not only an accomplished printer but also held a Diploma in Binding, took over from Mr. Winsboro. Mr. Garraway, so far, has held the record of being the longest-serving Government Printer. He retired in 1954.
Several other persons have held the prestigious position of Government Printer over the years, including:
- Mr. Theodore Roberts from 1954–1962;
- Mr. Fitz James from 1962–1966;
- Mr. Ornold Dowers from 1966–1978;
- Mr. Osnell Bentick from 1978–1992;
- Mr. Adolphus Miller from 1992–1995;
- Mr. Harold Llewellyn from 1995–2001.
In the early years, printing was a much longer process. In those days, there were no Linotype machines, no monotype machines, no offset presses, and no automatic or mechanically operated printing presses. All types were manually set by hand, which caused the process to be long and tedious. We, however, saw a transformation from "lead-type printing" (monotype and linotype) to modernised computerised printing. These transformations caused the printery to expand its staff due to the fact that the workload got greater.
