John Hill & Company or Johillco was a British toy company specialising in the manufacture of

hollowcast Permanent mold casting is a metal casting process that employs reusable molds ("permanent molds"), usually made from metal. The most common process uses gravity to fill the mold, however gas pressure or a vacuum are also used. A variation on the ...

metal and later plastic

toy soldiers A toy soldier is a miniature figurine that represents a soldier. The term applies to depictions of uniformed military personnel from all eras, and includes knights, cowboys, American Indians, pirates, samurai, and other subjects that involve c ...

becoming second to W. Britain in popularity. It is unknown where the name of John Hill came from.

History

John Hill & Co was started in 1898 by a former employee of W. Britain named Mr F. H Wood. In contrast to Britains, Johillco was the first British hollowcast figure company to sell their figures individuallyGarratt, John G. ''Model Soldiers-A Collectors Guide'' Seeley, Service & Co., London leading to competition from Britains who later began to sell individual figures and figures painted less ornately to be sold in

variety store A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, auto parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, furniture, and a selection of groceries. It usually sel ...

s like the

F. W. Woolworth Company The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or simply Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, se ...

. Johillco also manufactured

Coronation A coronation ceremony marks the formal investiture of a monarch with regal power using a crown. In addition to the crowning, this ceremony may include the presentation of other items of regalia, and other rituals such as the taking of special v ...

and other souvenir items. The firm's original factory was located at 2-22 Britannia Row,

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, London but the factory was bombed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In August 1946 the company reopened under new management in Plumbe Street

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Also after World War II, Johillco's chief figure designer Wilfred Cherrington in conjunction with a Mr Leaver started his own company called Cherilea. In their book ''The Art of the Toy Soldier'', the authors note that due to the cheapness of the figures and the individuality of their poses, Johillco figures were found more in working-class homes than the expensive Britains that came in boxes of rigid identical poses. The authors also noted the company probably used a variety of sculptors leading to various grades of quality of Johillco figures, that the authors call "the good, the bad, and the ugly".Ehrlich, Burtt R & Kurtz, Henry I ''The Art of the Toy Soldier'' 1990 Abbeville Press In addition to toy soldiers and cowboys and Indians, Johillco made many figures of knights and a

movie tie-in A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...

set of figures from

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

's ''

Quo Vadis (1951 film) ''Quo Vadis'' (Latin for "Where are you going?") is a 1951 American religious epic historical film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author H ...

'' as well as spacemen. 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 but the company ceased in the early 1960s.

References

Model manufacturers of the United Kingdom Toy companies of the United Kingdom Defunct toy manufacturers Toy brands Toy soldier manufacturing companies {{Toy-company-stub

History

See also

References