John Hill & Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Hill & Company or Johillco were a British toy company specialising in the manufacture of hollowcast metal and later plastic toy soldiers becoming second to W. Britain in popularity. No one knows where the name of John Hill came from.
[edit] History
John Hill & Co was started in 1898 by a former employee of W. Britain named Mr F. H Wood.[1] In contrast to Britains, Johillco was the first British hollowcast figure company to sell their figures individually[2] leading to competition from Britains who later began to sell individual figures and figures painted less ornately to be sold in variety stores like the F. W. Woolworth Company.
Johillco also manufactured Coronation and other souvenir items.
The firm's original factory was located at 2-22 Britannia Row, Islington, London but the factory was bombed during World War II. In August 1946 the company reopened under new management in Plumbe Street Burnley. Also after World War II, Johillco's chief figure designer Wilfred Cherrington in conjunction with a Mr Leaver started his own company called Cherilea whose name is an amalgamation of their surnames.
Johillco was slow to realise the effect of production in plastic. From 1956 they began making plastic figures in their hollowcast moulds under the name of Hilco[3] but the company ceased in the early 1960s.
