W.R Kelly
W.R Kelly began making children’s jigsaws in London 1949, before moving to Luton and then onto Stonham Aspall in Suffolk. Upon his retirement in 1978, Mr Kelly sold the business to Willis Toys. Both W.R.Kelly and Willis Toys have links to the Abbatt Toys company and recall having produced puzzles on their behalf. The history of W.R.Kelly however is sparse and with almost half a century having passed since they produced puzzles the history of the company exists only in the puzzles that remain in circulation. The majority of the W.R. Kelly puzzles in the collection are of small size (7 inches square) and whilst this was a very popular size for a child’s puzzle and formed product lines for Abbatt Toys, Tiger Toys and Galt Toys amongst others, the puzzles in this size produced under the name W.R.Kelly are all distinguishable by their use of the colour purple which is seen in each of the designs.
BBC TV
The following puzzles are all taken from popular 1960’s children’s TV shows; Joe, Camberwick Green and Hector’s House and marks a time when TV started to influence children’s toys and instead of relying upon the storytelling ability of parents, such as was the requirement in the Kiddicraft Story Puzzles, the storylines of the puzzles were taken from episodes that children may have seen on their television screens. They are a delightful set of puzzles though and evoke strong childhood memories of any adult that watched these programmes in childhood.
Other British Toy Manufacturers
Unknown British Toy Manufacturers
Unknown European Toy Manufacturers
