Merrythought

History

Merrythought was founded in 1930 by Gordon Holmes and George H. Laxton, with the first catalogue in 1931. The company hired AC Janisch who had been in charge of sales at J. K. Farnell as well as two former employees of Chad Valley, Clifton James Rendle and Florence May Attwood, with Attwood producing the company's first catalogue – an imaginative range of 32 toys including the first Merrythought teddy bear 'Magnet' ('M' series). Perhaps Merrythought's most famous individual bear was "Mr Whoppit", the mascot of land and water speed record breaker Donald Campbell. The company first produced teddy bears based on the "Woppit" character (a teddy bear himself) from the Robin comic in 1956.

The company at first rented rooms at the Station Hotel in Wellington before moving to a building in Coalbrookdale; in February 1931 Merrythought moved permanently to its present site in Ironbridge. Business grew rapidly, despite the Great Depression, with the Ironbridge site becoming the largest soft toy factory in Britain in 1935 and by 1939 over 200 people worked for Merrythought. The company's site was rented at first, but was purchased from the Coalbrookdale Company in 1956. Merrythought has operated from the same site, situated between The Wharfage and the River Severn, since 1931, with the exception of during World War II when the site was requisitioned by the Admiralty (for map-making) from the outbreak of war in September 1939. During the War, the company operated from Wellington and produced equipment for war use; Merrythought returned to their Ironbridge site in 1946. The oldest of the factory buildings had been constructed in 1898; further buildings were added to the site during the 20th century as the business grew.

Trayton Holmes, son of founder Gordon Holmes, joined the company in 1949; his son, Oliver Holmes, joined the company in 1972 and eventually became the managing director. Also in 1949 notable designer Clifton Rendle died, while Florence Attwood lived until 1952. After the war new buildings were built on the site and an automatic stuffing machine was bought from the United States in 1955. In 1957 the "Cheeky" bear was first introduced to the Merrythought range, a design which continues to be produced to the present day. In 1996 the Farnell brand name was bought by Merrythought. In 2001 a special Hope Bear was produced, raising money for the World Trade Center Disaster Fund.

The company altered during the 2000s' due to "the ongoing effects of external economics", specifically cheap foreign-produced goods with which Merrythought could not compete due to the high production costs associated with manufacturing in the UK. Merrythought's extensive range of plush animals (which were all British made) was no longer competitive against products from overseas so production of these products ceased. In 2007 a catalogue was unveiled, with a "much sharper, collector-focused group of products", focusing on the traditional mohair teddy bears that Merrythought had become most famous for since the 1930s. From 2007 to 2010 an independent company took on production of the teddy bears in the original factory at the Ironbridge site, with Merrythought Ltd purely managing product development and sales. This was a short-lived partnership and Merrythought ended up bringing production back in-house in early 2010 and have since then continued to manage all elements of the business from Ironbridge, Shropshire. All Merrythought teddy bears are still 100% handmade in England.

Oliver Holmes died from cancer, aged 60, on 30 April 2011. The eldest of his three daughters, Sarah, was working at Merrythought at the time so took over the running of the company; she was shortly joined by her younger sister Hannah who left her career in London to join the family firm; together they are the fourth generation in the Holmes family to be involved in the company. Sarah and Hannah Holmes are now joint managing directors.

Merrythought was awarded the 2011 Supplier Award by the famous, luxury London department store Fortnum & Mason (which has outlets in Japan), with limited edition bears for the store currently being made.

In 2011 Merrythought also won the prestigious, National, Red Ribbon Family Business Award for Innovation and Sarah Holmes won the Midlands Family Business Award for an 'Outstanding Contribution' to her business.

2012 Olympics

Merrythought was selected by the London Olympic Games organisers in February 2011 to produce the official teddy bears of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, giving the company a further boost. A range of London 2012 Olympic Games Commemorative Teddy Bears has been created each a Limited Edition of 2,012 pieces. Paralympic and Team GB Teddy Bears have also been produced. All of the Olympic teddy bears are handmade in England Merrythought's Ironbridge factory. Different bears have been produced to mark the Paralympic games. A bear has also been produced specifically for the British Olympic team.

Golly controversy

In modern times some people now regard the golliwogg, or Golly doll, that is a traditional children's toy dating back to the 19th Century, as a symbol of racism. From the 1930s Merrythought produced "gollies" as part of their traditional range and in August 2011 the Sunday People tabloid criticised Merrythought for producing Golly dolls, quoting the former athlete Darren Campbell who regards them as not in-keeping with "Olympic values". The company defended the dolls as "an innocent, traditional British toy". Since the company came under new management in 2011 the range has been discontinued, with a review of the overall product range given as the reason.