De La Rue De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British banknote manufacturing, security printing of passports and tax stamps, brand authentication and paper-making company with headquarters in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. It also has a factory on the Team Valley Trading Estate, Gateshead, and other facilities at Loughton, Essex, and Bathford, Somerset. There are overseas offices in Kenya, Sri Lanka and Malta. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company was founded by Thomas de la Rue (1793–1866), who moved from Guernsey to London in 1821 and set up in business as a 'Leghorn' straw hat maker,
Thomas de la Rue Thomas de la Rue Thomas de la Rue (24 March 1793 – 7 June 1866) was a printer from Guernsey who founded De La Rue plc, a printing company which is now the world's largest commercial security printer and papermaker. Born in Le Bourge, Forest in Guernsey to Eleazar de la Rue and Rachael de la Rue, maiden name Rachael Allez. Thomas was the seventh of their nine children. Thomas de la Rue was apprenticed to a master-printer, Joseph Antoine Chevalier in St Peter Port in 1803. He went into business with Tom Greenslade and together they launched the newspaper