Frank Hornby Obituary

[Widnes Model Centre]

I thought I would share this post that appeared today on a local history site. Credit: Steve Horton, Liverpool Hidden History.

 

The grave in St Andrews Churchyard Maghull of Frank Hornby, inventor of Meccano, Hornby Railways and Dinky Toys. Frank died in 1936, when he was living at Quarry Brook, now part of Maricourt High School

The following is an obituary that appeared in the Liverpool Echo........

Mr. Frank Hornby, the well known Liverpool manufacturer, and ex-M.P. for Everton Division, died today at the David Lewis Northern Hospital.

For some months Mr. Hornby had not enjoyed the best of health. His eyesight increasingly failed him and recently he went to Germany for treatment, returning in July. A few days ago he was admitted to the Northern Hospital, where on Friday morning he underwent an operation for an internal disorder.

Mr. Hornby was a "self-made man" and his successful business career was something of a romance. A native of Liverpool—he was born in 1863—he tried his hand at several occupations after he left school, without their giving promise of any advancement. It was the result of a sudden inspiration which came to him in a railway carriage that a career of prosperity was opened up to him.

Although not trained as an engineer Mr. Hornby, as a youth, had an ingenious faculty for "making things." He practised his hobby in a workshop at his parents' home. One Christmas Eve, while yet a young man, he was travelling from London to Birmingham to spend holiday with a relative who had children. The train stopped opposite a goods yard. His eye alighted on a small crane. He had been wondering what he could do to amuse his relative's children, and the thought came to him there and then —why not make a toy crane for the youngsters out of small stripe of steel?

The more he pondered over the idea, the more his imagination kindled to the possibilities of inventing mechanical toys which would appeal to the boy mind in general. And so Meccano came into being—a toy which could be put together by any boy of average intelligence out of a supply of little steel strips, punched with holes at regular intervals, and which, with the help of brass wheels, thin rods, and tiny nuts and bolts, could be capable of assuming many designs in miniature machinery form.

The invention of the Homby trains, with their realistic railway equipment, was a later development which set the seal on the creative output of the company of which he was the head. Mr. Homby made the first "Meccano" set himself, drilling the holes in the steel strips in his household workshop. He had very little money when he started out on what he felt sure would be a good business proposition, but very soon he was able to engage an assistant, and gradually, though not without many reverses and discouragements, he managed to develop both an industrial and a selling organisation. which within a score of years had made Meccano one of the most successful business enterprises in the country. By this time a company had been formed with Mr. Hornby as its chairman.

Mr. Hornby bad selected "Meccano" as his trade name because it was one that people of every nationality could pronounce. And in the course of time people of every nationality were not only pronouncing "Meccano " but buying it. For some years now Meccano products have necessitated a factory covering five acres, in Binn's-road, Liverpool, with a staff of 2,000 men and girls to keep pace with the world-wide demand for the company's supply of mechanical toys. An off-shoot of the business has been the issuing of a magazine, which is printed in seventeen languages, including Chinese.

Public life had no attractions for Mr. Hornby—his business absorbed all his time—until the autumn of 1930, when he accepted an invitation to become prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Everton Division, a quarter of the city in which he had spent the earlier years of his life. Twelve months later, in the General Election of 1931, he topped the poll in a three corner contest against a labour and National Labour candidate, being elected by a substantial majority. At the General Election of 1935 Mr. Hornby declined to accept nomination again for Everton. pleading as his justification the pressure of business engagements.

Mr Hornby married Clara, daughter of W. G. Godefrey of Liverpool. They had three children. two sons and a daughter. The latter died when 14 years of age, but the sons survive. One, Mr. Roland Hornby, resides at his parent's house, Quarry Brook, Maghull, and the other, Mr. Douglas Hornby, is married. Both sons are connected with their father's business.

Mrs. Hornby has been in indifferent health of late, and, acting on medical advice, she left for a Mediterranean cruise ten days ago with Mr. Hornby's niece, Mrs. Charles Gibbons, the latter's husband and two nephews. Both Mr. and Mrs. Homby were looking forward to their golden wedding anniversary next January. Arrangements for celebrating the event were already in hand, and Mr. Hornby himself had been planning the programme a few days before being struck down by his last illness.

A keen interest in music and the drama was shared by Mr. and Mrs. Hornby. In their young days they both sang in the choir of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society and they first met at the society's concerts.

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Widnes Model Centre

[Mark Carne]

Edited February 7, 2020 by Mark Carne

[Coppercap]

They look to be rather too old for Hitler Youth in 1936. 

[Tramshed]

57 minutes ago, Mark Carne said:

And here he is with a group of visiting Hitler Youth!

One of histories many ironies. 6 years later the factory, along with so many, was given over to production for the war effort.

[The Johnster]

That one on the end looks sinister enough though.  I expect he's foreign, perhaps a spy, but in any case he'll be up to no good I'll warrant.  Come on George, let's get our bicycles which are in good order with lights and have been carefully locked where they won't get in the way and, as we have our cycling proficiency badges, go and find Ann and Timmy and go back to the cottage for tea and lashings and lashings of jam!

 

Oh, Timmy, you're so licky...

 

I know, I'm a bad lad.

[Philou]

That's just soooo icky! (Made me laugh though!)

 

[truffy]

30 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

That one on the end looks sinister enough though.  I expect he's foreign, perhaps a spy, but in any case he'll be up to no good I'll warrant.

 

Spy: Mein Führer, they build toy trains that are out of scale to gauge!

Hitler: Hah! We have them now, they will be no match to our superior modelling skills!!!!

 

(sorry, can't be bothered to write that with a German accent)

 

30 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I know, I'm a bad lad.

 

That's the inner-city mean streets in you.

[RANGERS]

I seem to recall an appeal, maybe in the ‘80s, for funds to restore the memorial.

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, Coppercap said:

They look to be rather too old for Hitler Youth in 1936. 

 

1 hour ago, The Johnster said:

That one on the end looks sinister enough though.  I expect he's foreign, perhaps a spy, but in any case he'll be up to no good I'll warrant.

 

1 hour ago, truffy said:

Spy: Mein Führer, they build toy trains that are out of scale to gauge!

Hitler: Hah! We have them now, they will be no match to our superior modelling skills!!!!

 

 

Probably nothing more sinister than a visit from the Berlin MRC or a factory trip for German members of the "Hornby Railway Company" (The Collectors Club of the time)!  

 

The sad thing about the memorial is that Patricia Hornby died so young, given the date, possibly a victim of the Influenza Pandemic  (The "Spanish" flu) of the time.

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Philou said:

That's just soooo icky! (Made me laugh though!)

 

An ex-squeeze who studied Enid Blyton at college reckoned that it’s an actual quote from George.  It’s one of those things that, if it’s not true, should be!

[The Johnster]

‘Hah!  Ve haf zem now, zey vill be nein match for our zuprior modellink skillz!!!

 

’Donner und Blitzen, mein Breitspurbahn icht gerflunken’...

 

[Andy Hayter]

3 hours ago, Coppercap said:

They look to be rather too old for Hitler Youth in 1936. 

Possibly as a result of poor translation

Hitlerjugend = Hitler Youth

Hitlerjugendfuehrer(en) = Hitler Youth Leader(s)

 

[ue substituted for the umlauted u as is standard practice on non-German keyboards].

Edited February 6, 2020 by Andy Hayter

[Steamport Southport]

Probably just a bunch of students. Don't forget being in the Hitler Youth and party was virtually compulsory by that point. Most people would have thought of them as being just like the scouts.

 

Besides Germany weren't exactly an enemy at that point. There is quite a famous photograph of the England Football team doing a salute. Even the young Princesses got in on the act....

 

I've also seen a photograph of a German U Boat being formally welcomed to Liverpool in the 1930s. That might be in the U Boat museum in Birkenhead or the Maritime Museum in the Albert Dock.

 

 

 

Jason

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, scumcat said:

... the photo may have been taken In November 1936. What I can say that a group of visiting Germans in 1936 would have been treated as just that. In 1936 no danger would have been seen.

On May 11, 1936 the Deutsche Reichsbahn's Class 05 achieved 200.4 km/h (124.5 mph) on the Berlin–Hamburg line. Papyrus had reached 108 mph (173.8 km/h) on March 5, 1935. It would be July 3, 1938 before Mallard reached 126 mph (203 km/h). All these speed record settings weren't just about British railways. There was an intentional dimension of political prestige.

 

Churchill had given a speech in the Commons on May 2, 1935  declaring that Britain had lost parity of air power with Germany "in the number of machines and their quality", having already debated the Air Estimates in 1933 and 1934.

 

The Re-militarization of the Rhineland began on March 7, 1936.

 

The coup d'etat which would precipitate the Spanish Civil war began on July 17 of 1936. The Condor Legion was quickly formed to respond to the a Nationalist request for German aircraft on July 22.

 

The Games of the XI Olympiad were held in Berlin in August 1936.

 

It's true that the Sudeten crisis and the Anschluss (which greatly ratcheted up tensions) would not occur until 1938, but European tensions were well underway in 1936. Nevertheless, your point that it was perfectly normal for Germans to travel to England in 1936 is accurate.

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

Even the young Princesses got in on the act....

This one from perhaps 1933?

 

There are a lot of high-profile Britons who dodged a terrible legacy for admiration of the Third Reich.

 

After the abdication in December of 1936 the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were courted by the Nazis and would visit Germany in October of 1937 as guests of the Führer and would pay their hosts many compliments.

 

I'm not suggesting that the Duke or Duchess were sympathizers, but there's no doubt that there were many amongst Britain's most influential people at this time.

 

 

[truffy]

36 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

This one from perhaps 1933?

 

There are a lot of high-profile Britons who dodged a terrible legacy for admiration of the Third Reich.

 

After the abdication in December of 1936 the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were courted by the Nazis and would visit Germany in October of 1937 as guests of the Führer and would pay their hosts many compliments.

 

I'm not suggesting that the Duke or Duchess were sympathizers, but there's no doubt that there were many amongst Britain's most influential people at this time.

 

There may have been admiration, or was it foreboding? Bearing in mind that this was around the time that Britain, and others, were trying to appease Hitler's Germany.

 

Why, didn't that nice Mr Chamberlain bring back a piece of paper with Herr Hitler's autograph? Such a dear man!

[APOLLO]

7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

I've also seen a photograph of a German U Boat being formally welcomed to Liverpool in the 1930s. That might be in the U Boat museum in Birkenhead or the Maritime Museum in the Albert Dock.

 

They left a souvenir from the U boat - the boats telegraph !!

 

 

 

I believe a Gross Fahrt Voraus was quite a noisy maneuver !!!!!

 

Brit15

[Legend]

Interesting info on Frank Hornby , but did you see that Richard Lines of Tri-ang fame died at the end of January . I only ask because although there is an Obituary for him on here, it seems to be little commented on  which I find surprising as really it was Richard Lines Tri-ang that got me , and I suspect countless others of our generation into model railways . In fact you could argue that todays Hornby is more related to the Tri-ang of Richard Lines fame than the Hornby of Frank Hornby - except for the name obviously!

[Nearholmer]

All power to the memory of Mr H, but I too think that Mr L has been under-done a bit, especially given that more of the DNA of the current Hornby company comes from his side of the family.

 

The claims of direct lineage being promulgated at the moment as part of ‘Hornby 100’ are bordering on disingenuous IMO.

[Hroth]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

The claims of direct lineage being promulgated at the moment as part of ‘Hornby 100’ are bordering on disingenuous IMO.

 

The disputed lineage has been noted elsewhere in RMweb, but we're not supposed to mention it.  I suppose its just another "marketing" driven attack on our pockets and, as with anything from Marketing, should be taken with a large pinch of salt!

 

I was wondering why Lines bought Hornby Dublo.  As far as I know, the only Dublo loco that carried forward in the Triang catalogue was the E3001 model, which was ready to go compared with Triangs effort, and the only other item that survived for a while was the big engine shed.  Its possible that they bought up Dublo was to prevent any other toy manufacturer from capitalising on the Hornby name and perhaps doing something with the models.

 

[Nearholmer]

That's an interesting theory about why he bought HD, and makes sense to me.

 

I didn't know we weren't allowed to talk about the subject ......... I shall mention it more often, now.

[JohnR]

Frank Hornby had been to Germany for treatment in July 1936, and this may have been a reciprocal visit.

 

Its also worth noting that all youth organisations were banned in Nazi Germany, except for the Hitler Youth, and many groups "rebranded" - it could very well be that these were people from the former German Meccano club.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

In fact, Lines Bros (Tri-ang) didn't just buy Hornby Dublo...

 

They bought out Meccano Ltd...in 1964.

 

That included Dinky Toys, Meccano, Hornby Trains (O Gauge) etc., as well as Hornby Dublo.

 

By the time that Lines Bros. took over, actual manufacturing of Hornby Dublo had just about stopped. The warehouse being full of unsold stock.

 

In 1965, the "Amalgamation" of Tri-ang Railways and Hornby Dublo was announced.

This formed Tri-ang Hornby.

 

At first, several of the Hornby Dublo 2-rail locos were included in the Tri-ang Hornby catalogue. This was some of the unsold stock. A Tri-ang Hornby sticker was applied over the Hornby Dublo logo on the box tops. A Converter Wagon was included in the purchase price of the ex HD locos.

As well as the engine shed, the complete plastic building range was also sold in rebadged boxes.

 

Later, for a time, the Through/Terminus set was made at Margate, using the Tri-ang Railways colours. The tools proved awkward to use, and so manufacturing soon stopped.

 

It is interesting to see the two ranges together in the one catalogue...have a look at 1966, I think, onwards for a couple of years.  The 1965 catalogue pre dated the amalgamation...

 

The later use of Hornby Dublo tools by Wrenn was, in a way, originally keeping the tools in house, as at the time, G&R Wrenn were a part of the Lines Bros. Group...

 

It may be interesting to note that British Trix offered to sell out to Lines Bros., But they were turned down.

 

All is explained in Pat Hammond's The Story of Rovex series, published by Cavendish.

 

It would be good if Pat could get the time, etc. to get Volume Four published.

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Sarahagain
more added...

[The Johnster]

15 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

All power to the memory of Mr H, but I too think that Mr L has been under-done a bit, especially given that more of the DNA of the current Hornby company comes from his side of the family.

 

The claims of direct lineage being promulgated at the moment as part of ‘Hornby 100’ are bordering on disingenuous IMO.

Preaching to the choir here, muy compadre.  The current Hornby range is genetically, and in some cases contains survivors of, Rovex/Triang.  

Edited February 8, 2020 by The Johnster