Toy Tortoise Tales! PHS member Michael Bonnefoy on an early plastic toy manufacturer

摘要

In 1935 Ely Heimann and George Montague Mejlso established Hely Trading Company Limited.Heimann had moved to London in the early 1930s to escape persecution in his former city of Hamburg,Germany.The 'Hely' part of his company title was formed using the initial letter of his surname combined with his first name Ely-a common practice at this time and one later repeated when establishing their 'Elmont' toy brand name('El'from Ely and 'Mont' from Montague).Records show that shortly after the end of World War 2 both Heimann and Mejlso were operating from a site in Park Road North,Acton,London,W3.Their factory building was the former Stoddards toy works that had ceased trading in 1944.Like many other buildings in the vicinity it covered a long thin footprint and had originally been purpose built as a laundry-this part of Acton it should be pointed out was once famed for its profusion of laundries and had even acquired the local name of Soapsud Island following the First World War.However,its layout also proved ideal for the installation of several plastic moulding machines with a locking capability of between fifteen to forty tonnes,which was considered quite advanced at the time.