CHAD VALLEY DOLLS
English Cloth Dolls | History | Internet Doll Research | Chad Valley | Dean's Rag Book Co. | Farnell | Harwin |
Liberty of London | Norah Wellings | More Information | Works Cited
Liberty of London | Norah Wellings | More Information | Works Cited
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HISTORY
Chad Valley began making cloth cloth child dolls in the mid 1920’s. Arguably, their most beautiful and famous dolls were the dolls made in the likeness of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret Rose in the 1930s.
The company was opened by the Johnson brothers, Joseph and Alfred as a printing company 1n 1849, although another one of my sources sets the dat at 1823. They named their business Chad Valley in 1897 when they opened their new factory next to a stream called Chad, near the city of Birmingham. A facility in Wellington was devoted to soft toys and dolls. They made their first doll in 1917. These first dolls were made of stockinet material at a range of quality and price. Dolls with faces made of pressed felt were introduced in 1924. The dolls were marked with a hang tag reading “CHAD VALLEY/HEGIENIC/FABRIC TOYS. Lost hang tags can make it somewhat tricky to id the dolls. They were widely exported throughout the Bristish Commonwealth and the U.S. Louis Wolf was the distributer in the United States. Their toys were of excellent quality.
They hired a well-known illustrator named Mabel Lucie Atwell, who designed for the Bambina line of dolls. As well as concentrating on good artistic design for the dolls they also developed marketing ideas:
“One marketing idea used by Chad in the 1920’s was to sell dolls in ‘bye-bye boxes’ which were boxes shaped like beds with a drawer underneath to hold the doll’s belongings.” (Early)
Most dolls were girl dolls, though the Atwell line was evenly divIded. They also made dolls modeled after characters popular with English children, such as Red Riding Hood and the ubiquitous Golliwog. Most dolls seem to be between 12-18 inches. Most of the clothing was marked with a sewn-in tag. Clothing was made in a variety of qualities, depending on the expense of the doll. Fake fur and felt applique were often used.
The company received the Royal Warrant of Appointment, "Toymakers to Her Majesty the Queen" in 1938. (Fawdry)
Although the war and early post WWII years were kind to the company – they ran into financial difficulty in the 50’s when the firm ended as a private family business and became a public company instead. Profits reached their highest in 1951 at 117,793 pounds.(equivalent to about $500,000 dollars in 1950’s dollars and perhaps as much as 10 times as much in todays dollars). The company changed hands several times and finally "the brand name was bought by Woolworths in 1988 and remained in use until that company's closure due to insolvency. Home Retail Group, the parent company of retailers Homebase and Argos, purchased the brand for £5 million on 20 January 2009.[2][dead link] The Chad Valley brand is now available exclusively at Argos." (Chad Valley, Wikipedia)
The company was opened by the Johnson brothers, Joseph and Alfred as a printing company 1n 1849, although another one of my sources sets the dat at 1823. They named their business Chad Valley in 1897 when they opened their new factory next to a stream called Chad, near the city of Birmingham. A facility in Wellington was devoted to soft toys and dolls. They made their first doll in 1917. These first dolls were made of stockinet material at a range of quality and price. Dolls with faces made of pressed felt were introduced in 1924. The dolls were marked with a hang tag reading “CHAD VALLEY/HEGIENIC/FABRIC TOYS. Lost hang tags can make it somewhat tricky to id the dolls. They were widely exported throughout the Bristish Commonwealth and the U.S. Louis Wolf was the distributer in the United States. Their toys were of excellent quality.
They hired a well-known illustrator named Mabel Lucie Atwell, who designed for the Bambina line of dolls. As well as concentrating on good artistic design for the dolls they also developed marketing ideas:
“One marketing idea used by Chad in the 1920’s was to sell dolls in ‘bye-bye boxes’ which were boxes shaped like beds with a drawer underneath to hold the doll’s belongings.” (Early)
Most dolls were girl dolls, though the Atwell line was evenly divIded. They also made dolls modeled after characters popular with English children, such as Red Riding Hood and the ubiquitous Golliwog. Most dolls seem to be between 12-18 inches. Most of the clothing was marked with a sewn-in tag. Clothing was made in a variety of qualities, depending on the expense of the doll. Fake fur and felt applique were often used.
The company received the Royal Warrant of Appointment, "Toymakers to Her Majesty the Queen" in 1938. (Fawdry)
Although the war and early post WWII years were kind to the company – they ran into financial difficulty in the 50’s when the firm ended as a private family business and became a public company instead. Profits reached their highest in 1951 at 117,793 pounds.(equivalent to about $500,000 dollars in 1950’s dollars and perhaps as much as 10 times as much in todays dollars). The company changed hands several times and finally "the brand name was bought by Woolworths in 1988 and remained in use until that company's closure due to insolvency. Home Retail Group, the parent company of retailers Homebase and Argos, purchased the brand for £5 million on 20 January 2009.[2][dead link] The Chad Valley brand is now available exclusively at Argos." (Chad Valley, Wikipedia)
Links to Information on Google Books
These are links to information that can be read by searching Google Books. Google Books allows you to search books in their vast database. It also provides links to purchasing the books and/or finding them in a library.
- Dolls by Caroline Goodfellow
- Warman's Companion Collectible - Great picture of one of my favorites - Princess Elizabeth.