The early history of Chad Valley toys -in the Original Virtual Museum

Toys for Toffs - the early history of Chad Valley

Chad Valley is now a brand of Home Retail Group. This bonus page in the Original Virtual Museum relates to the early history of Chad Valley leading to their twenty-one year association with Woolworths. It is offered for historical interest. All trademarks are acknowledged.

Chad Valley Toys have given pleasure to eight generations of children, from the present Queen of England, to kids across Europe, North America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. Some of the toys have been simple, many have been sophisticated; some have been "just for fun" while others have nurtured young minds and helped scholars to map the world we live in. One common feature has applied throughout the last 149 years - a build quality that's second to none. Why else would early Chad Valley be among the most sought after collectabless on the world-wide web? And why do their antique toys so often carry the description "well used but in surprisingly good condition for its age"? On this page we take a whistle stop tour of the Company's early days as purveyors of playthings to the nobility.

The name Chad Valley first appeared on toys in around 1920, a new name for a printing company that had already been trading for up to ninety years. The idea began in around 1830 when a British printer by the name of Anthony Bunn Johnson began to make simple games for children as a sideline. These consisted mainly of pictures on paper and card, sometimes supported by a set of rules or instructions.

In 1860 his two sons, Joseph and Alfred, branched out on their own, setting up a similar business, "Johnson Brothers" that operated from George Street, Birmingham, England.

Simple but immaculately made. An early Chad Valley game of snap. The stereotypes of the day are all there to see. Note that in those days the reverses of the cards (top left) were simply left plain, and the rules (top right) are very precise, finishing "The winner is the one who eventually secures all of the cards."

Winkles Wedding - a popular early board game from Chad Valley toys that was repeatedly updated and repackaged from 1900 until World War II

Little by little the brothers started to add value to their original card-based games, exploring different shapes of card and adding outer packaging, sheets of rules and an assortment of parlour games. A good title could run and run meaning that Edwardian hits like Winkles Wedding were refreshed and updated periodically over the next twenty-five years. The more ambitious products, and their popularity with the public soon started to put pressure on the George Street site and set the brothers looking for a larger site on which they could establish a purpose-built factory.

After a widespread search the brothers chose a spot in Rose Road, Harborne on the outer-edge of Birmingham, adjacent to a branch-line railway. The elegant building went on to serve as the firm's headquarters for almost seventy years.

The Chad Valley works in Harborne, Birmingham

The new building was named the 'Chad Valley Works', describing its location in the valley of the River Chad. Before long the factory name was included on some of the products, like Winkles Wedding (above, left) which was marked 'The Chad Valley Games'. Ultimately the brand became so well known to the public that the Johnson Brothers decided to adopt the Chad Valley name for the firm as a whole.

Raw materials were delivered to the factory by train, with most of the toys produced leaving by the same route. Indeed when Harborne's passenger train service was withdrawn sometime after the second world war, the branch line remained open just to serve the Chad Valley Company.

The letterhead of the Chad Valley Company carried the names of the firm's Directors, most of whom were still from the Johnson Family right up to the Second World War

Progressively during the 1910s the Johnson family started to experiment with new, more types of toy, made from more ambitious materials. Their aim was to complement their successful range of paper- and card-based products which had been born out of the printing business. A strong emphasis on the printed word remained, with output targeted squarely towards affluent families and well-educated children.

By the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Chad Valley was exporting across the British Empire and beyond. Perhaps there is little wonder that they manufactured mainly for 'toffs', given that at the time it was unusual for most ordinary children to be given toys at all, with most receiving more practical presents like socks and fruit at Christmas. Only the upper classes regularly bought toys - to keep their little Herberts firmly in the Nursery with Nanny, where they could be seen but not heard.

The Chad Valley 'Fleet Street ' game was typically of many early products - made mainly from off-cuts of paper and card from the Jonson Brothers' printing works

A 1920s Chad Valley teddy following the original design. Initially manufactured in Harbourne, Birmingham, England soft toy production was moved to the Wrekin Toy Works, Wellington, Staffordshire in the early 1920s.

One of the first ranges for the new diversification was soft toys. The Johnsons were quick to see the potential of the ideas of the German toy maker Mary Steiff, who planned a selection of cuddly animals, starting with small toy elephants and soon adding a bear to the range. In 1903 she exported a batch of the toys to the USA, where the bear was an instant hit. Americans nicknamed them 'Teddies' after their President, Theodore Roosevelt, who was famous for not shooting an old bear on a hunting expedition.

Before the Great War Chad Valley started to develop a range of dolls with china faces and experimented with soft toys. Then, as the conflict raged overseas, they retooled at Harborne to allow them to mass produce their own Teddy Bears.

By the 1930s the Teddy Bear had become a little plumper, but retained the distinctive ribbon. They have a sewn label on the left foot that reads "Chad Valley Hygienic Toys". This one was made at the Wrekin Toy Works, Staffordshire.

By 1920 the teddies were so popular that more capacity was needed. A long search identified The Wrekin Toy Works in Wellington, Staffordshire as a good acquisition. As well as adding capacity this would bring additional skills and product designs, all aiding growth. The Wrekin plant became a centre for innovation, experimenting with new materials and allowing the firm to move away from the traditional 'composition' bodies (a cross between cardboard and papier maché) and china faces to experiment with felt - which was soft to the touch or celluloid, which was an early plastic. A steady stream of new dolls was introduced throughout the 1920s and 1930s, selling for between five and thirty shillings (25p to £1.50 at the time, the equivalent of £20 to £100 today) - vastly more than the comparable products in the downmarket F. W. Woolworth Threepenny and Sixpenny Stores at the time!

An early felt doll with a china face and glass eyes. Manufactured at Harborne at the end of the Great War.

This 1920s 'boy doll' by Chad Valley was made of felt. Note the way the boy is wearing a double-breasted twead hunting jacket with felt lapels and a tie and hat - all ready for a day's fishin', huntin' and shootin' !

A 1920s felt Chad Valley soldier, designed primarily for the Canadian market

One of the most popular dolls of the 1930s, this one was in production from the late 20s well into the Second World War.

We believe this is a restored Snow White, with replica clothes. Uniquely Snow White's face was entirely hand painted, meaning that there are slight variations between one and another example.

Hygienic Toys from Chad Valley - a sew-in product label from a 1930s doll

Sew-in labels for Chad Valley teddy bears were sometimes fixed to the sole of one the feet

All of the soft toys produced at both Harborne and the Wrekin works carried a sew-in label, with most reading 'Hygienic Toys | Made in England | Chad Valley Co.' or Chad Valley Co. Limited and some abbreviated to simply 'Hygienic Toys England'.

What set the Chad Valley items apart was the exceptional attention to detail. Dresses were in authentic materials, finished with lace and neatly pleated. Faces were designed with great care, with the same attention to detail that came to characterise Royal Doulton's 'Lovely Ladies' series of porcelain dolls. Boy dolls proved very popular with the young ladies of the era, and - of course - were dressed in tweed sports jackets, trimmed with felt collars, gun bags and of course neck ties. This was the attire of the children of the country squire and the sons and daughters of the aristocracy.

The attention to detail won admiration among the highest in the land - but company executives were still surprised to find the Queen of England was a fan!

A Constitutional Crisis in Britain in 1936 saw the new King, Edward VIII, in a bitter battle with Parliament over his plans to marry the American divorcée Wallace Simpson. The King believed that his popularity with the British public would win through, but it did not and in the end he stepped aside, abdicating in favour of his shy younger brother Bertie, who became His Majesty King George VI.

There was intense public interest in the new Royal Family, with people wanting to find out more about their new King and his wife, the former Duchess of York, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who had become Queen Elizabeth and their two daughters, Their Royal Highnesses Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose.

Chad Valley executives resolved to chance their arm and ask if they could feature the young princesses as Toys, expecting the request to be rejected out-of-hand.

The new British Royal Family, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and Their Royal Highnesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, pictured in 1937 from the Woolworths Staff Magazine, 'The New Bond'

Much to the surprise of the Johnson Brothers, they received a note from the new Queen saying that Royal Princesses often played with Chad Valley Toys and an invitation to meet for a sitting. Two products were agreed - a jigsaw puzzle of the two girls and a pair of dolls, which were intended to be the finest ever produced by the Chad Valley Company.

The Royal Princesses - Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Chad Valley dolls from 1938. H.M. Queen Elizabeth II became the British Monarch in 1952 and celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2002

The dolls proved and jigsaw puzzle proved very popular with the public, selling in vast quantities not only in the United Kingdom but right across the British Empire and beyond, with exceptional sales in Canada and South Africa. Fears that the Queen Elizabeth might not like the lifelike dolls proved unfounded when Chad Valley received a Royal Warrant in 1938. For the next fourteen years the toys carried the Royal Warrant on the box or sew-in label, with the words 'Toymakers to H. M. The Queen', which was adapted to 'Toymakers to H. M. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother' when Princess Elizabeth acceeded to the throne in 1952.

Besides drawing plaudits from Buckingham Palace, the dolls also attrracted attention from another kind of royalty - America's Walt Disney Company, who invited Chad Valley to create dolls of seven dwarves who were to appear in a new film they were making. The elegant boxed set of Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs is one of the most sought-after collectable toys in the world today.

Chad Valley's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937 - today a complete set fetches thousands of pounds at auction

Between the wars Chad Valley continued to offer a mix of traditional paper based toys and more innovative ranges, investing profits in growth by acquisition. In 1931 they bought the long-established manufacturing company Peacock and Company, adding new capabilities and allowing them to offer tinplate products, including toy cars and clockwork train sets. They also among the first to experiment with bakelite, putting together a remarkable toy train made from the new plastic like material (illustrated below, centre top):

Chad Valley toys from between the World Wars: clockwise Compendium of Games from the 1910s, Bakelite Toy Train from the 1930s, Lotto Game with Bingo Sheets and Wooden Counters from the 1930s and Snakes and Ladders from the 1920s

The firm's marketing department came up with many innovative ideas. First they became 'Suppliers to H. M. Government', supplying toys for hospitals and schools and the children of members of the armed services and later signed deals with each of the Steam Railway Companies and Shipping Lines to supply tinplate scale models of their flagship engines and liners. The Railway Companies offered trainsets at the main London terminii as gifts for country squires to take home for their sons. The Chad Valley models were remarkably detailed and a cut above those offered by rival Toy companies. The trains, for example, produced rail steam and came supplied with good quality 'O' gauge track. Many of the originals survive to this day. The toy cars and lorries give a snapshot of a different age and have spawned a number of replica ranges in more recent times.

Chad Valley trainsets first went on sale in the 1930s. The tinplate train and trackets were thirty shillings (£1.50 each) - the equivalent of around £100 today

Perhaps the most remarkable range from the Twenties and Thirties was the assortment of gambling-related products. Today these would be considered politically incorrect, but at the time it was important that the children of the aristocracy learnt about Roulette, Gaming Machines and betting on horse racing. Chad Valley's Escalado product was so popular that Waddingtons later paid a small fortune to acquire it for themselves. Meanwhile the Roulette Wheel was so well balanced, thanks to the innovative use of bakelite in the construction, that many were used by adults rather than children. Both the Wheel and the Fruit Machine remains in full working order seventy years after retiring from the Chad Valley range, in our Virtual Museum Casino - so 'faites vos jeux' and 'rien ne va plus'.

By way of comparison most of the toys featured on this page were more than twenty times the upper price limit in an F. W. Woolworth Threepenny and Sixpenny Store of the day - and a child could have chosen more than forty top-of-the-range Woolies items or two hundred penny notions from Woolies for the price of a single roulette wheel. But would the toffs have learnt enough to run the country if they had stuck with Woolies marbles and magic tricks? No-one will ever know. But perhaps Gordon Brown would like to use the Woolies 'Magic Vanishing Trick' on the national debt - it seemed to work well enough on the store chain during the credit crunch of 2008!

Vices for the gentry - courtesy of Chad Valley Toys in the 1930s - a mechanical fruit machine, the Escalado Horse Racing game and a Bakelite Roulette Wheel - little wonder Chad Valley was 'By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen' !

"Sell a toy, spread some joy"
Frank W. Woolworth - letter to stores. November 1909.


Fast links to Original Virtual Museum exhibits Wonders from Woolies What our great grandparents used to buy Got to believe that it's magic The first character merchandise In and out the windows The Lion and Albert There's a war on Fifty years ago Mum and dad's toys The race for space Cool for School Woolies by Woolies at Woolies Eighties and Nineties Toys Wooly and Worth Kids and Celebrations Century of Toys Video

Bonus Items - The History of Chad Valley Although now owned by the Argos parent Home Retail Group, Chad Valley was rescued by Woolworths and a key part of the firm's offer for 21 years Toys for Toffs TV changes everything

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