Toy Manufacturers
British and international toy manufacturers from Britains to J. W. Spear & Sons, BRIO to Margarete Steiff.
Abbatt Toys
See Paul & Marjorie Abbatt Ltd.
Cascelloid
See Palitoy
BRIO
BRIO was started by Ivar Bengstsson in 1884 in Osby, Sweden and was named after his two sons. BRIO is best-known for its stacking toy clown, the Labyrinth game, wooden railways and other quality toys.
Britains
William Britain (1828-1906) founded Britains in 1860. He moved from Birmingham to London in the middle of the 19th century, where he converted his new home on Lambton Road, Hornsey, into a factory.
Chad Valley
The Chad Valley trademark was first registered in 1897 when the original company of Johnson Brothers added games to its stationery range.
The Dean's Company
Dean's Rag Book Co. Ltd. was founded in 1903 in London. The company initially made cut-out doll sheets, kites, blow-up toys and rag dolls as well as rag books. During the First World War it started to make teddy bears.
Fisher-Price
Fisher-Price was founded in 1930 in East Aurora, New York by three entrepreneurs; Herman Fisher, formerly involved in marketing games, Irving Price, a retired variety chain store operative and Helen Schelle, owner and operator of a toy store in central New York.
G&J Lines Ltd.
G&J Lines was founded in 1876 by George and Joseph Lines. George, Joseph's elder brother was already manufacturing toys at Bagnidge Wells, an early 'spa' near Kings Cross in London. With the formation of the new company, the two brothers moved to an old steam works, number 457, on the nearby Caledonian Road, and this premises housed their ca.150-strong staff.
Gebrüder Bing
Gebrüder Bing was founded in 1863 in Nuremberg, Germany by Ignaz and Adolph Bing to sell toys and kitchenware. The company later specialised in tin and mechanical toys including trains, boats and cars.
Hasbro
Hasbro was founded by Henry and Helal Hassenfeld as Hassenfeld Brothers in 1923 in Providence (Rhode Island, New England). The company first sold textile remnants and then later, school supplies.
Hornby
Hornby was founded in Liverpool, England in 1901 by Frank Hornby, initially making Meccano sets. In 1907 Hornby established Meccano Ltd. Hornby Dublo trains were introduced in 1938, but production was halted for the Second World War (1939-1945).
J. W. Spear & Sons
Jacob Wolf Spier was born on the 23 April 1832 in Germany to Jewish parents who worked as soap makers. Spier was brought up by his father from the age of four after his mother died. At the age of 20, Spier emigrated to America, along with many others who left their native Germany during this period. In 1857 he married the German born Sophie Rindskodft.
Kiddicraft
Kiddicraft was founded by Hilary Page in 1932 at Purley, Surrey. Page initially produced toys from wood, but also experimented with plastics. In 1939 he introduced a range of 'Sensible' toys for babies using plastic, initially under the name Bri-Plax and later as Kiddicraft.
Lego
In 1932 Ole Kirk Christiansen, carpenter and joiner, founded a carpentry business at Billund, Denmark, making ladders, ironing boards and wooden toys. The toys were particularly successful and the company adopted the name LEGO in 1934, the word meaning 'play well' from the Danish words 'Leg Godt'.
Lines Bros. Ltd.
Lines Brothers Limited was founded in London in 1919 by the three brothers William, Arthur and Walter Lines, the sons of Joseph Lines, himself a toy manufacturer. Trading principally under the name Tri-ang Toys, the company grew to be one of the largest toy manufacturers in the world.
Louis Marx
Brothers Louis and David Marx founded the Louis Marx Company in New York in 1919. They believed in the policies of 'Give the customer more toy for less money' and 'Quality is not negotiable' which made them very popular with the general public.
Margarete Steiff
In 1877, Margarete Steiff founded a felt mail order company to make underskirts and children's clothes, introducing animal toys to the range of products in 1880.
Mattel
Ruth and Elliott Handler and Harold Matson launched Mattel from a garage workshop in Southern California in 1952. Initially the company made picture frames and dolls' house furniture then in 1959 Mattel launched Barbie.
Meccano
Meccano was founded by Frank Hornby and David Elliot in Liverpool, England, as Mechanics Made Easy to make tinplate construction sets.
Merrythought
Merrythought Ltd. began as a spinning mill established near Yorkshire, England by W. G. Holmes and G. H. Laxton in 1919. Holmes and Laxton bought Dyson Hall & Co. Ltd., a mohair-plush weaving factory, in the 1920s.
Mettoy
Mettoy started trading in 1934 in Northampton, England. The company was set up by Philipp Ullmann and Arthur Katz, successful toy manufacturers in Germany who moved to Britain following Hitler's rise to power.
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley began making lithographs in 1860 in Springfield, Massachusetts, one of the first of which being a lithograph of a beardless Abraham Lincoln, which was popular until consumers realised that Lincoln had since grown a beard!
Palitoy
Cascelloid Limited, later to become Palitoy, was founded by Alfred Pallet in 1919, who at the age of 18, set up a company for the manufacture of celluloid and plastic fancy goods.
Paul and Marjorie Abbatt Ltd.
Paul and Marjorie Abbatt were pioneers and advocates of innovative and well-designed toys. They believed that play was not just a trivial pastime, but was instead vital to a child's social, emotional and intellectual health and development.
Schuco
Schuco was originally founded as Schreyer & Company in Nuremberg, Germany in 1912 by Heinrich Muller and former Bing employee Heinrich Schreyer, manufacturing clockwork and mechanical toys and bears.
Waddingtons
Waddingtons was founded in Britain during the nineteenth century by John Waddington and Wilson Barrett. It started life as a small printing firm producing posters and programmes, mainly for theatre productions.
