Rivermead Central
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In post #801, Martin wrote: 'Just a suggestion, but Mr Bassett Lowke was politically left-leaning so may have paid his staff better. Frank Hornby was a self-made millionaire and latterly a Tory MP'. Mr Bassett-Lowke was a local politician, active and effective in civic affairs in his lifelong home town of Northampton, but I do not know how much he paid his staff. (We do know, however, that in the dire economic conditions of 1929 all B-L employees were told that their wages would be cut by 10%.)
For most, and possibly all, of Mr Hornby's life, Meccano Ltd. paid its employees rather more than the prevailing local rates. Mr Hornby seems to have been seen as a paternalistic and generally benign figure, and the workforce (which was mainly not unionised) did not participate in the General Strike of 1926. In 1919 one short-lived stoppage (which was not about wage levels) was quickly resolved.
Yes, Mr Hornby was conservative M.P. for Everton from 1931 to 1935. He was conscientious in carrying out his constituency responsibilities, and attended Parliament assiduously, travelling to London at the beginning of each week and returning home every Friday during the session. But he rarely spoke in the Chamber of the House of Commons, and was not attracted by the gossiping and intrigues of what we now call 'The Westminster Village'. One has the impression that he did not really enjoy being a Member; and the strain of his responsibilities towards his firm as well as to Everton and Parliament almost certainly worsened his already declining state of health. He passed away on 21 September, 1936.
Relations between Mr Bassett-Lowke and Mr Hornby seem to have been civil, and perhaps cordial. They were both confident and secure about the viability and indeed the success of their respective businesses. The firm of Bassett-Lowke took advertising space in almost every issue of the Meccano Magazine, and Mr Bassett-Lowke personally contributed many feature length articles to this well-regarded periodical. In addition, Meccano Ltd. was one of the the firms from which Bassett-Lowke Ltd outsourced some of its model railway inventory. Just saying!
John
For most, and possibly all, of Mr Hornby's life, Meccano Ltd. paid its employees rather more than the prevailing local rates. Mr Hornby seems to have been seen as a paternalistic and generally benign figure, and the workforce (which was mainly not unionised) did not participate in the General Strike of 1926. In 1919 one short-lived stoppage (which was not about wage levels) was quickly resolved.
Yes, Mr Hornby was conservative M.P. for Everton from 1931 to 1935. He was conscientious in carrying out his constituency responsibilities, and attended Parliament assiduously, travelling to London at the beginning of each week and returning home every Friday during the session. But he rarely spoke in the Chamber of the House of Commons, and was not attracted by the gossiping and intrigues of what we now call 'The Westminster Village'. One has the impression that he did not really enjoy being a Member; and the strain of his responsibilities towards his firm as well as to Everton and Parliament almost certainly worsened his already declining state of health. He passed away on 21 September, 1936.
Relations between Mr Bassett-Lowke and Mr Hornby seem to have been civil, and perhaps cordial. They were both confident and secure about the viability and indeed the success of their respective businesses. The firm of Bassett-Lowke took advertising space in almost every issue of the Meccano Magazine, and Mr Bassett-Lowke personally contributed many feature length articles to this well-regarded periodical. In addition, Meccano Ltd. was one of the the firms from which Bassett-Lowke Ltd outsourced some of its model railway inventory. Just saying!
John
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Hi John
Some interesting information there. I don’t know what the pay rates were for Northampton staff either, or how these compared to wages for equivalent jobs in other businesses. I also don’t know if most Bassett-Lowke staff were in a trades union.
I wonder if low union membership amongst Meccano staff was because staff saw no need to join or because the company discouraged it.
It would be nice to get a better impression of what Bassett-Lowke and Hornby were like as people. Both, in their different ways, were clearly remarkable individuals. I think Mr Bassett-Lowke has to have been what my political friends used to call a ‘champagne socialist’.
On your point about Bassett-Lowke including items made by Meccano Ltd amongst the 0 gauge items listed in the Bassett-Lowke catalogue. Only after WW2 that I can think of — then tinplate track and some loads for ‘special load wagons’. Of course, by the mid ‘50s some issues of the Bassett-Lowke model railway catalogue included Triang and Hornby Dublo trains just as straight retail. But I have always thought it remarkable how little Bassett-Lowke sourced from Meccano. The pre-WW2 0 gauge Dinky staff and passenger figures were as good or better than the regular figures offered by Bassett-Lowke sourced from other British makers of lead figures. When Bassett-Lowke bought in trolley wagons c.1930 before the lithographed Winteringham version was in production, these were sourced from Marklin rather than the very similar Hornby offering. Bassett-Lowke had to cut off the Marklin couplings and rivet on a replacement, but still chose the Marklin model.
There might have been something I have forgotten, but when you think of how many different companies made items for the Bassett-Lowke 0 gauge range pre-WW2, Meccano Ltd is conspicuous by its absence. That could have been because Bassett-Lowke didn’t ask Meccano, or because Meccano was not interested in making items for Bassett-Lowke.
Martin
John R Smith
Western Thunderer
Hello Martin and John
I think that the articles by W J Bassett-Lowke in the Meccano Magazine are a very telling point. You do not give a voice in your house magazine to someone you dislike, or view as a dangerous competitor.
John
I think that the articles by W J Bassett-Lowke in the Meccano Magazine are a very telling point. You do not give a voice in your house magazine to someone you dislike, or view as a dangerous competitor.
John
Interesting point, John.
Meccano (as Hornby) was selling some pretty basic toy trains with nothing equivalent in the Bassett-Lowke range. Bassett-Lowke was selling expensive scale models in Gauge 1 and above with nothing equivalent made by Hornby. But, perhaps most obviously, the 0 gauge Compounds in both ranges were essentially aimed at the same market. For most customers, if they bought one company’s model of the Compound, they wouldn’t also buy the alternative offering. So there definitely was overlap, and to that extent the two companies were competitors. Bassett-Lowke clearly had a mixed competitor/cooperator relationship with Bing and Marklin who were also selling their own products through other retailers, notably Gamages, at the same time as making models for Bassett-Lowke.
I can’t imagine that Mr Bassett-Lowke would have been given a platform in the Meccano Magazine if relations with Hornby (company or man) had been very poor or hostile. But I think Meccano benefitted too from Mr Bassett-Lowke writing for their boys’ magazine. He was a very well-known — perhaps actually ‘famous’ — figure in the model and railway worlds. So he gave the Magazine additional credibility and authority by being a contributor. I note the current ‘Hornby Magazine’ similarly reviews, describes and praises the products of other present day model manufacturers. The Hornby Magazine wouldn’t be credible as a source of information about the current scene if they ignored the products of Hornby’s competitors. Likewise for the Meccano Magazine in the ‘30s.
Martin
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
The current Hornby Magazine was originally launched by Ian Allan Publishing in 2007 and later acquired by Key Publishing in 2012. As I understand there was no official link to Hornby although the named was used in the title.
John R Smith
Western Thunderer
Martin and John
I expect that one could write a PhD thesis on the topic of Frank Horby and Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke (and somebody probably already has). Apart from the fact that Hornby came relatively late to toy trains in the early 1920s, well after the success of Meccano, there seems to be a striking difference between them in the isolation of Mr Hornby from what we could term the mainstream of the model railway movement in the 1930s. Whereas Bassett-Lowke was part of a well-tended coterie of movers and shakers, which included Henry Greenly, Percival Marshall, J N Maskelyne, G P Keen, Ernest F Carter and so forth, and Hornby was not.
I was not around in the 1930s, but during the 1950s when I had every issue of Meccano Magazine it still seemed to live in a world of its own, with very little connection to Dad's Model Engineer or The Model Raiway News, which I also read cover to cover. As I had an extensive Hornby Dublo system I looked to the Meccano Magazine for information and support, and so I was then part of the Hornby world (incidentally, when Dublo went two-rail I felt betrayed).
So another interesting difference might be that Bassett-Lowke never had a house magazine, whereas Meccano Magazine probably created undying loyalty to Hornby from several generations of schoolboys. Despite their very different marketing and design philosophies, both great companies succumbed to changing cultural interests and aspirations in the mid 1960s.
John
I expect that one could write a PhD thesis on the topic of Frank Horby and Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke (and somebody probably already has). Apart from the fact that Hornby came relatively late to toy trains in the early 1920s, well after the success of Meccano, there seems to be a striking difference between them in the isolation of Mr Hornby from what we could term the mainstream of the model railway movement in the 1930s. Whereas Bassett-Lowke was part of a well-tended coterie of movers and shakers, which included Henry Greenly, Percival Marshall, J N Maskelyne, G P Keen, Ernest F Carter and so forth, and Hornby was not.
I was not around in the 1930s, but during the 1950s when I had every issue of Meccano Magazine it still seemed to live in a world of its own, with very little connection to Dad's Model Engineer or The Model Raiway News, which I also read cover to cover. As I had an extensive Hornby Dublo system I looked to the Meccano Magazine for information and support, and so I was then part of the Hornby world (incidentally, when Dublo went two-rail I felt betrayed).
So another interesting difference might be that Bassett-Lowke never had a house magazine, whereas Meccano Magazine probably created undying loyalty to Hornby from several generations of schoolboys. Despite their very different marketing and design philosophies, both great companies succumbed to changing cultural interests and aspirations in the mid 1960s.
John
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Hello Martin - and John (whose post above preceded this one of mine by a whisker!)
You make further interesting points - thank you. Yes, it would be nice to have a clearer idea of how Mr Bassett-Lowke and how Mr Hornby were as people. Some years ago I read a biography of the former written by his niece, Janet Bassett-Lowke, but to my regret do not remember much about the book. Some information about Mr Hornby is contained in Kenneth Brown's book Factory of Dreams (Crucible Books, 2007).
I would surmise that the low level (up to 1936) of unionism at Meccano Ltd. is probably due to both of the factors which you mention. I also believe that in late Victorian and then Edwardian times many toys and 'fancy goods' were made by family or other small firms in which the matter of union membership did not arise. Although his business grew rapidly, Frank Hornby's policy was to continue with this ethos as far as possible, and in 1920 he wrote of 'the spirit of fair-mindedness and sincerity with which we have dealt with those questions which concern their [the employees'] welfare' and expressed the hope that 'whatever misunderstandings or differences of opinion [which] may arise in future will be dealt with in a friendly and satisfactory way'. These assurances and aspirations seem to have been largely fulfilled for most of the rest of Mr Hornby's lifetime. The difficulties arose later on.
You have lighted upon exactly the items which I had in mind when I wrote that B-L had outsourced some items from Meccano! Yes, perhaps Meccano Ltd. did not want to be a sub rosa general supplier, and usually preferred to follow the line later taken by Kelloggs when the latter declared that they did not make cornflakes for anyone else to sell!
John
You make further interesting points - thank you. Yes, it would be nice to have a clearer idea of how Mr Bassett-Lowke and how Mr Hornby were as people. Some years ago I read a biography of the former written by his niece, Janet Bassett-Lowke, but to my regret do not remember much about the book. Some information about Mr Hornby is contained in Kenneth Brown's book Factory of Dreams (Crucible Books, 2007).
I would surmise that the low level (up to 1936) of unionism at Meccano Ltd. is probably due to both of the factors which you mention. I also believe that in late Victorian and then Edwardian times many toys and 'fancy goods' were made by family or other small firms in which the matter of union membership did not arise. Although his business grew rapidly, Frank Hornby's policy was to continue with this ethos as far as possible, and in 1920 he wrote of 'the spirit of fair-mindedness and sincerity with which we have dealt with those questions which concern their [the employees'] welfare' and expressed the hope that 'whatever misunderstandings or differences of opinion [which] may arise in future will be dealt with in a friendly and satisfactory way'. These assurances and aspirations seem to have been largely fulfilled for most of the rest of Mr Hornby's lifetime. The difficulties arose later on.
You have lighted upon exactly the items which I had in mind when I wrote that B-L had outsourced some items from Meccano! Yes, perhaps Meccano Ltd. did not want to be a sub rosa general supplier, and usually preferred to follow the line later taken by Kelloggs when the latter declared that they did not make cornflakes for anyone else to sell!
John
I had assumed ownership or a very close link — wrongly, it appears. A bit odd though, because the magazine title appears to be in the same typeface as used by the Hornby model company — which surely must be their trade mark and arguably one of the firm’s key assets. Letting someone else use your trade mark is pretty risky/unusual unless you are very sure they won’t do anything that would damage the brand.
Martin
Hi John
I think you have spotted a genuine difference here. Which might explain a lot.
The isolation, if indeed it existed, could be down to simple geography. Liverpool is ‘up north’.
Another possibility is a difference in attitude between the two men to well-to-do, privileged, people. Although both Hornby and Bassett-Lowke had no formal education after leaving school, Bassett-Lowke seems to have sought the company of distinguished intellectuals, artists and generally well-educated successful individuals. Maybe Hornby didn’t feel comfortable with such people. Or maybe he looked a bit too much like ‘new money’ to them.
I think there might be an even more fundamental difference. Mr Bassett-Lowke’s model railway friends were just that. Enthusiasts who had, to some extent at least, turned their interest/hobby into a business or way of earning a living. Hornby was a businessman who had turned to model railways as a way of making (even more) money. He didn’t start from the same place.
It’s that key question, asked most famously by Mrs Thatcher: “Is he one of us?”
Martin