Category:Barringer, Wallis and Manners

Toy Brands and Manufacturers
Barringer, Wallis and Manners
1839 - 1939

Barringer Wallis and Manners made all kinds of decorative tins for all kinds of companies and people. Originally operating from 1839, packing and selling mustard as Barringer and Brown, the business started making decorative tins in the 1870s.

Foundation and expansion

After the arrival of Charles Manners in 1889, the business was split and Barringer Wallis and Manners, a tinplate decorating and printing company was formed. The company carried on expanding and received Royal Warrants from Queen Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Queen Mary and King Albert I of Belgium. With their reputation thriving, Barringer Wallis and Manners became renowned for making various tins for royalty, for famous companies such as Quality Street and for a diverse range of products from biscuits, to tobacco and cigarettes, to pen nibs, gramophone needles, typewriter ribbons, screws and nails. They also undertook private commissions, notably, an order of 300 specially designed Alice through the Looking Glass tins for Lewis Carroll to present to friends and family. Three of these are currently on display in Brighton Toy and Model Museum!

Depression years

Throughout the depression, the company became involved in the metal toy industry, but was largely occupied in making an assortment of tea and biscuit tins for companies such as McVitie and Price, Jacobs and Peek Frean & Co.

Metal Box Company

Barringer Wallis and Manners joined their main competition, the Metal Box Company in 1939. The Metal Box Company remained heavily involved in metal toy and biscuit and confectionary tin manufacture, also making aerosols from the 1950s. The company was eventually taken over in 1996 by Crown Cork & Seal, now part of Crown Holdings Inc. Crown Aerosols UK is the largest producer of aerosols in Europe, while Crown Speciality Packaging PLC still produces "speciality biscuit, tea caddy and whiskey tins".

Toymaking

As specialist tinplate and tinplate metal box manufacturers, Barringer, Wallis and Manners are likely to have been subcontracted to produce various odd lines for other companies. They were responsible for making the Ubilda range of tinplate toy kits for Burnett Limited and seem to have produced all of Burnett's output, later acquiring Burnett's designs. As Metal Box, they then supplied these toys to Chad Valley (with suitable modifications to the lithography to include Chad Valley's name), and worked closely with Chad Valley to expand the range.