W. Britain

Britains

Industry	Figurines
Founder	William Britain Jr.
Products	Collectable Toys

Britains, earlier known by the founder's name W. Britain, is a British toy company known for its diecast lead toy soldiers. The company, however, with its factory in London, also diversified into other associated toys such as diecast zamac military trucks, agriculture and commercial vehicles, and toy automobiles.

The W. Britain brand name of toy and collectable soldiers is derived from a company founded by William Britain Jr., a British toy manufacturer, who in 1893 invented the process of hollow casting in lead, and revolutionized the production of toy soldiers. The company quickly became the industry leader, and was imitated by many other companies, such as Hanks Bros. and John Hill and Co. (Gibbs 2009; Joplin 1996). The style and scale of Britain's figures became the industry standard for toy soldiers for many years.

In 1907 the family proprietorship, William Britain & Sons, incorporated as Britains, Ltd. The Britain family controlled the firm until 1984 when it was sold to a British conglomerate, Dobson Park Industries. They combined the operations with an existing line of toys and renamed the company Britains Petite, Ltd. (Opie 1993). During the first half of the 20th century, Britains expanded its range and market. By 1931 the firm employed 450 at its London factory. The catalogue had expanded to 435 sets and twenty million models a year were being produced. (Wallis 1981).

In the early 1950s Britains was associated with W. Horton Toys and Games which made the diecast Lilliput ranges of small-scale rather generic cars and trucks and other vehicles. Later, Britains acquired Herald Miniatures, plastic figures designed by Roy Selwyn-Smith. The company was also known for its American Revolutionary War soldiers.

In the 1950s, besides soldiers, a variety of vehicles began to appear, mostly in the military field. One such detailed diecast vehicle was a Royal Artillery 4.5" Howitzer towable cannon that fired toy shells. For a toy, it was intricately designed, with a special threaded post with rotating knob to raise and lower the cannon. Also in early 1950s, one of the first Britains vehicles was a Bluebird land speed record car of famed driver Sir Malcolm Campbell. It had a removable body and the box showed a detailed cut-away illustration of the car.

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