Chad Valley/Temp

Chad Valley Toys History

Timeline.

1860 English brothers Joseph and Alfred Johnson started a stationery business Messrs. Johnson Bros. in Birmingham England.

1897 Joseph and his son, Alfred, opened a factory in the nearby village of Harborne. Although trading as Johnson Bros (Harborne) Ltd the factory was known as the Chad Valley Works, having been named after the small stream that runs through the village.

"Chad Valley" was soon adopted as the trademark.

1904 Joseph died and his son, Alfred took over

1915 The first jointed Chad Valley teddy bear was made

1916 The company patented a stuffing machine for soft toys

1920 Production of soft toys had expanded so the company moved to a separate factory, the Wrekin Toy Works, in Wellington, Shropshire

1923 Registers the Aerolite trademark. Chad Valley expanded and took over Isaac& Co

1931 Expansion continued leading to the take-over of Peacock & Co. Ltd.

1936 Alfred died. Sir James Curtis became chairman

1938 Chad Valley were appointed a British Royal Warrant of Appointment. From that date all the toys displayed a label: 'Toymakers to Her Majesty the Queen' until 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, the word 'Queen' was changed to 'Queen Mother'. The new label, usually square, was imprinted with blue text and sewn on the foot with zigzag-stitches.

1950 To raise revenue for expansion, Chad Valley became a public limited company

1960 The company had seven factories and employed over 1,000 workers

1967 Chad Valley takes over H G Stone & Co Ltd (Chiltern Toys), the amalgamated company became the largest soft toy manufacturer in Great Britain

1970's The recession led to the shutting down of six of the seven factories. Soft toy manufacture moved to Pontypool.

1978 Chad Valley was taken over by Palitoy, which later was bought by the American company Kenner Parker

1988 the trade name was sold to Woolworth's, which made a new series of Chad Valley toys in Asia