Category:W Butcher and Sons

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Toy Brands and Manufacturers

W Butcher and Sons Ltd, logo.jpg

W Butcher and Sons

1866 - 1926

W. Butcher & Sons had its roots in a Nineteenth Century "pharmaceutical chemists" business, which, with the development of photography as a hobby and a commercial activity, advanced from selling the chemicals needed for developing photographs, to making and selling their own camera equipment, makign some equipment themsevles, and importing other equipment from Germany. William Butcher Sr. and William Fredrick Butcher built up the camera business, which was split off from the "chemists" business in 1903

As well as "magic lanterns", The company is remembered in the toy business as being the manufacturers of the Primus Engineering metal and wood construction sets, an early competitor to Meccano. It also produced a magic lantern slides, and films.

In 1915, with WW1 making it difficult or impractical to import camera equipment from Germany, and it created a joint camera manufacturing business with fellow camera-maker Houghtons. W. Butcher finally merged with Houghtons in 1926 to form Houghton-Butcher. Shutting down the Primus Engineering construction set range (which seems to have happened some time around 1923-1926) may have been a rationalisation move in advance of creating the new merged camera manufacturing company.

The Primus brand

While the company used the Primus Engineering marque for their Meccano-like construction sets, they also used the Primus brandname on photography equipment.

Addresses

  • "WILLIAM BUTCHER and WILLIAM FREDERIC BUTCHER both of 33 Tranguil Vale Blackheath in the County of Kent Dealers in Photographic Apparatus"
  • W. Butcher & Sons Ltd – Camera House, Farringdon Avenue, London

External links

museum collections
photography and moving films
books
  • Percy Lund, Photography for Novices. The Primus handbook (W.Butcher & Sons, 1902)
patents:



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