A Liverpool Exemplar - Frank Hornby

 

Frank and Clara Hornby with daughter Patricia in 1913

Frank Hornby was born on the 15th of May 1863 at 77 Copperas Hill, Liverpool, although the entry in the family bible in his mother's handwriting gives the date as the 2nd of May. He was brought up a Methodist and met his wife, schoolteacher Clara Godefroy, when they were members of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society choir. They married in 1887 and had two sons, Roland and Douglas and a daughter Patricia. When his father died in 1899, his father's business was closed and Frank, who was his Cashier, became a bookkeeper for David Hugh Elliot who ran a meat importing business in Liverpool.

In 1899, experimenting in his home workshop at 10-12 Duke Street, Frank made a toy crane for his sons out of perforated metal strips held together with nuts and bolts. At first the pieces were not interchangeable but he later realised that by making perforations on the individual pieces it was possible then to put them together differently to make other models built from the very same components. Because of this, complex constructions became much simpler, e.g. the crane could be dismantled and the parts used to make different models. Seeing a future for this versatility he began to work on producing it for the mass market and by the end of 1900 had built a set of parts he considered worth marketing. Unable to market his invention properly due to time and money constraints, luckily his employer saw the potential and offered him some vacant premises next to the office where he worked to pursue his ideas. David Elliot and Frank Hornby became partners and Frank patented his invention in January 1901 as 'Improvements in Toy or Educational Devices for Children and Young People' and, after receiving endorsement from Liverpool University, he managed to secure contracts with outside manufacturers to supply the parts for his construction sets. With the financial assistance of his partner, his "Mechanics Made Easy" sets went on sale in 1902.

Initially each set had only 16 different parts with a leaflet detailing the construction of 12 models, but by 1906 there were eight different sets being supplied in tin boxes with instruction manuals in French and English, and for the first time a profit was being made. By 1907, with part suppliers not meeting the demand, Frank quit his day job with Elliot to find suitable premises to begin manufacturing his own parts. He secured a three-year lease on a workshop in Duke Street, by Dukes Terrace in the Rope Walks area of Liverpool, and with the help of a loan granted to Hornby and Elliot for machinery and wages, they were manufacturing their own parts by June 1907. That year he registered his famous 'Meccano' trade mark which was used on all new sets, but, with a larger factory and plant required, capital needed to be raised. This led to the formation of Meccano Ltd on the 30th of May 1908, but with Elliot deciding not to join the new company, Frank was sole proprietor. The Meccano factory was relocated to West Derby Road in Liverpool, and in 1910 the famous "MECCANO" logo was commissioned with Meccano Ltd having a turnover for the financial year of £12,000.

Meccano was exported to many countries and in 1912, Frank and his son, Roland, formed Meccano (France) Ltd in Paris to manufacture Meccano. An office was also opened in Berlin with the toy company Märklin manufacturing Meccano under licence and exporting clockwork motors to Frank in England. With demand increasing, even after taking up new premises in Tuebrook, these proved too small, so he bought up 5 acres of land in the Old Swan area of Liverpool. It was here the Binns Road factory opened in 1914 and by September was in full production and became the company headquarters for over 60 years. By 1922 Meccano kits of various sizes and prices were available and at its peak the Meccano system consisted of over three hundred pieces to inspire a generation of children to take up technical careers. 

After the First World War Frank began making clockwork trains with the first railway engines sold in 1920 as construction kits. By 1925 all Hornby trains and accessories were sold ready assembled and were the ultimate child's toy and still very popular today. The Meccano Magazine, first published in 1916 to promote their toy products, remained in circulation for over 60 years and by 1928 the firm employed over 1,200 people. Meccano became so popular that the Meccano Guild was established, a guild for all the Meccano clubs from all over the globe. The first clockwork train models were produced in 1920, being models of British trains together with the correct colors and signage of the railway companies of that time. All kinds of accessories were also available including rolling-stock, signal-boxes, stations, level-crossing gates, buildings, and scenery to add a touch of realism. From 1925, low-voltage electric power replaced the train engines' clockwork mechanisms.

Work on Hornby trains at the factory in Binns Road 

 

Originally marketed as 'modelled miniatures' in 1931, the 'Dinky' toy range was introduced in 1933 which comprised of die-cast zinc alloy miniature vehicles of cars, trucks, farm machinery and other models. The first set consisted of six cast miniature figures of station workers as the toys were originally intended as line-side effects for the model railways but became popular in their own right.
The products of Binns Road were phenomenally successful and the construction kits, model cars and train sets were loved all over the world which gave Frank a very successful business. In 1930, he had already become a millionaire owning Quarry Bank mansion in Maghull, Liverpool and was chauffeured by a limousine daily. He was a visionary in toy development and production, producing three of the most popular lines of toys in the 20th century when Meccano Ltd was for many years the biggest toy manufacturer in Britain. In its heyday Meccano also had factories in Speke and Aintree as well as manufacturing bases in Argentina, France, Germany, the USA and Spain. In 1963 there were 2,000 workers at the factory, of which 80% were female, and another 300 to 400 staff. He also tried his hand in politics and served briefly as a Conservative MP from 1931 to 1935 for the Liverpool constituency of Everton, resigning his seat shortly before the 1935 General election.

Frank Hornby died on the 21st September 1936, aged 73 at the David Lewis Hospital in Liverpool and the Binns Road factory finally closed in 1979. His first modest semi-detached house, 'The Hollies in Station Road, Maghull, was the first building to be awarded a blue plaque outside of London. His legacy though lives on today with thousands of enthusiasts all over the world still building Meccano models and running Hornby train sets. 

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/05/a-liverpool-exemplar-june-henfrey.html