Sunday 4 June 2017

One hundred years of one house in Chorlton part 86 ......... looking for the toys

The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*

Raphael, 1993
It is still the case that even after all our children have left, their toys still fill the house.

In the cellar we have mountains of Lego which once formed ships, castles, space rockets and pirate islands, now sadly reduced to their parts, kept in bin bags and waiting for something to happen.

And, along with these there are Beano and Dandy annuals, a selection of comics and shed loads of figures from footballers to the cast of Lord of the Rings.

Of course along the way we have lost many more, most thrown away or passed on, and two that were buried in the garden.

These last two were both of Superman bought in Greece on a holiday in the mid 90s for our Saul and when they finally broke it seemed fitting that they she be buried where two of the family pet cats also rest in peace..

But none of this vast collection of toys was older than 1984 when our eldest was born.

He was the first child in the house, which is quite remarkable given that the house was built in 1915.

All of which meant that if there had been toys in the place they were there as an accident.

Royal Mail van, 1914-1939
So I doubt that this elegant tin toy ever made into Joe and Mary Ann’s home.  It was made sometime in the inter war years Burnett Ltd.

The company was founded in 1914 by F. Burnett and E. Satchwell, and sold a range of tin plate toys, including an open top motor bus our Royal Mail van, plus fire engines, aircraft and locomotives.

In 1939 it ran into financial difficulties, and its tooling was acquired by Chad Valley.**

These were toys I grew up with although by the early 1950s they had been replaced by dye cast model cars and planes. That said my train set included a range of railway carriages and freight wagons which were still made out of tin plate.

At the same I yearned for something which looked more realistic but with the passage of time I have come to admire these tin toys.

Location; Chorlton

Picture;  Raphael, 1993 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and tin toy courtesy of David Harrop.

*The story of house, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house

**Tin Toys, http://www.traditional-tin-toys.co.uk/tin-toy-manufacturers.php

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