IN A market town like Darlington, a printer was a very important person. He was the centre of commerce, politics and culture.

In the era of the fly-poster, in the days before newspapers, businessmen wanting to advertise their prices came to the printer; politicians wanting to promote themselves came to him; and visiting performers wanting to sell their shows came to him.

So in 1849, when John Readman retired from the pressures of printing, he left a large hole in Darlington town centre. A Stockton man, he had been in business on the corner of Priestgate and Prebend Row (where the mobile phone shop is today) since 1809.

But to the Pease family, his retirement presented an opportunity to extend their influence. If they could find a like-minded fellow - a Quaker and a Liberal - to take over Readman's important position, they could sustain him in business with printing contracts for their railway.

In April 1849, Edward "Father of the Railways" Pease's eldest son let it be known on the Quaker network that a man could be made for life if he came to work for them.

"John Pease of Darlington has written to London to know if there is any young man, a 'Friend' wishing to open as a printer and stationer, as a person in Darlington in a good business in this line is wishing to retire having acquired a competency and there is no 'Friend' in that line in the County of Durham," wrote a Brighton Quaker in his diary, showing how far along the network the Peases' quest stretched.

"The Peases would be glad to patronise a young man, a 'Friend' of good character and conduct. No premium or goodwill is required for the business."

The offer came to the ear of a 22-year-old Quaker called Harrison Penney, born in Poole, Dorset, and educated in Quaker schools in Croydon and Hitchin, Hertfordshire. He had a history of good works and was nearing the end of his apprenticeship as a printer in Brighton.

He got the job, and on May 19, 1849, started work in the shop on the corner of Priestgate. His sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth, came to assist in the business, and on June 2, 1852, he gained another helper when he married Maria I'Anson, of Bishop Auckland.

One of the reasons Penney was attracted to Darlington was that his family did not have much wealth behind it. He was awarded the contract as house printer for the Peases' Stockton and Darlington Railway - timetables, posters etc - but even so, when he married Maria he was £100 in debt.

Then disaster struck, not once but twice. Soon after his marriage, fire ripped through his shop and he had to move his printing works into an old mill in the yard which stood behind the Red Lion, in Priestgate. This yard - the entrance to which can still be seen beside the Lion - was Carlton's Yard, but was renamed Penny Yard in his honour (though an 'e' was missing).

He built "an engine chimney" on top of the mill and became the first printer in the North-East to use steam power for his press.

But in 1861, another fire swept through the mill, doing £800 worth of damage. Maria, his wife, complained the fire engine was "long in coming, although the men were plied with coffee and bread and butter".

Public donations ensured Penney was soon back in business, although it was not necessarily a lucrative business. He would have discovered by now that far from being "a good business", as John Pease had initially suggested, John Readman had retired through bad debts.

Penney also had to contend with actors and musicians who came to the town, asked for tickets and posters, and then moved on without paying. In 1853, Penney wrote to a fellow printer in Hartlepool: "If Von Hartman calls upon thee, don't trust him d nor believe his promises to pay."

Penney was also pushed because of his Quakerish morals: he refused to print raffle tickets or circus posters.

Then, after fire and theft, came the big blow. In 1863, the Stockton and Darlington Railway amalgamated with the Great North Eastern, and Penney lost the contract that was the staple of his business. Undeterred, he diversified into book-selling while keeping his press in Penny Yard.

He kept up his good works, visiting missionaries in Greenland in 1864, and zealously espousing the causes of temperance and peace. He was president of the Young Men's Christian Association and, in 1887, he laid one of the foundation stones of the Salvation Army's Citadel in Northgate - opposite his house in North Terrace, where five years earlier Maria had died aged 52, having borne him seven children.

But too many good works proved to be the undoing of Harrison Penney. On March 18, 1888, he attended a service at the Friends Meeting House in Skinnergate, and then went to Greenbank Hospital to conduct a service. Then he walked out to Low Coniscliffe to conduct another, before walking home to North Terrace late at night, where he collapsed. He died ten days later.

The business on the corner of Priestgate was wound up on September 3, and in October a series of auctions was held disposing of his letter press and lithograph and his "whole stock of envelopes, stationery, including drawing and writing papers".

One of the main bidders was a fellow called William Dresser. Starting as a 16-year-old in 1852, Dresser had served his printing apprenticeship with Penney. Time-served, in 1858 Dresser had moved on to High Row to establish his own business.

Now, in 1888, he had Penney's equipment and clientele, and Dressers was firmly established.

l Echo Memories apologises for its absence last week owing to a daunting combination of heavy snowfall, foot-and-mouth outbreaks and a rail crash