Waddingtons

Waddingtons (also Waddington's or John Waddington ) was a British manufacturer of various printed products .

Waddingtons was represented in packaging, office supplies, advertising, plastics, postage stamps, playing cards and games.

Starting in 1896 as a manufacturer of posters and advertising material, playing cards were made from 1922, later puzzles and other games (including Monopoly and Cluedo ). At peak times, the Leeds company employed 4,000 people. The toy division was sold in 1994 to the American toy company Hasbro ; 2000 Waddingtons was sold and then smashed.

Nowadays, Winning Moves UK uses the Hasbro licensed brand Waddingtons for playing cards.

First foundation

John Waddington (a printer) and Wilson Barratt (actor manager at Leeds Grand Theater) founded Waddingtons Ltd in 1896 in Camp Road, Leeds , to produce theater posters and other theatrical promotional items.

Second foundation

After the breakup between the two, Waddington left the company and started a new printing company on Great Wilson Street, Leeds.

After financial difficulties the company in a January 31, 1905 Private Limited Company (non-traded public company) under the name John Waddington Ltd. converted.

The board initially consisted of HM Carter and John Waddington, followed a short time later by William Peacock and two years later by Edgar Lupton. After Peacock left in 1908, he was replaced by Ralph Bernard Stephens. Also in 1908 Arthur Copson Peake became a board member.

John Waddington introduced the printing technique of lithography , for which the lithographer Victor Hugo Watson (* 1878 in Brixton) was hired as foreman. Lithography developed better than the other areas; financial difficulties arose.

Resignation of the company founder

After irregularities were discovered in the books of account and it emerged that the company founder John Waddington regularly embezzled money, he left the company on March 7, 1913.

The rest of the board considered closing the company; but they were convinced by Watson to continue the business. Watson was appointed manager. The business grew and a second factory site was rented on Elland Road. On April 2, 1915, this building burned down with the work already completed; The following day, the Charles Russel printing company on Dewsbury Road , which was for sale in Leeds, was bought by Watson and work was resumed on the same day to re-produce the ordered but destroyed goods. Charles Russel's workforce was taken over. From 1916 Watson was appointed to the board.

In January 1919 the London- based company Tribe & Son and in early 1920 the original Waddingtons Ltd in Leeds were bought, and they were now represented in several locations in Leeds and London.

Conversion into a public limited company

In order to expand further, the company was converted into a public limited company on March 14, 1921 .

The first board of directors consisted of Edgar Lupton, Arthur Copson Peake, Ralph Bernard Stephens and Victor Hugo Watson.

Production of playing cards, puzzles and games

In 1920 and 1921 attempts were made to make playing cards. When Thomas De La Rue & Co. Ltd took over the competitor Charles Goodall & Co. Ltd in 1922 , there was only one major British playing card manufacturer, so entry into the playing card market in 1922 was cheap.

In 1923 John Waddingtons Ltd received the "Blue Ribbon" from the Royal Academy of British Printing.

From 1929 round playing cards were produced, which were very successful. Playing cards for cigarette packs were produced in the 1930s.

Due to the Great Depression , losses were made in 1931.

In 1933 the card game Lexicon was produced. After an intense advertising campaign, thousands of games were sold per day.

In the same year, cardboard puzzles began to be made.

In 1935, the Irish card manufacturer Ormond Printing Company was taken over.

monopoly

Victor Watson gave a game of Monopoly to his son Norman Watson on a Friday in 1935 ; he should find out if the game was any good. After spending the entire weekend playing this game, a phone call was arranged with Parker Brothers , USA, on Monday morning ; it was the first phone call from the Waddingtons to the US and the first phone call from Europe to the Parker Brothers. Waddingtons received the right to manufacture and sell Monopoly . The rules of the game remained unchanged; only the street and station names were changed. Waddingtons turned over half a million pounds annually with this game.

Cluedo

In 1943, the British lawyer Anthony Ernest Pratt (born August 10, 1903, † April 9, 1994) and his wife Elva invented a game that they Murder! called. In 1944 a patent for the game concept and the game plan was filed, which was then granted in 1947. In 1947 Waddingtons acquired the rights to the game Cluedo , which was not released until 1949 due to material shortages. In the same year the game was licensed to Parker Brothers for the North American market. Since then, around 3 million games have been made annually worldwide.

Many other board games followed, so that the Waddingtons became known throughout the United Kingdom primarily for these board and card games.

Logo of Waddington's House of Games

Waddington House of Games

House of Games Corporation Limited , a Canadian company headquartered in Scarborough , Ontario in 1968 , was later based in Bramalea (now Brampton ), Ontario. This then became Waddington House of Games and later Waddington Sanders , which was later located in North York , Ontario. Waddington House of Games mostly brought out games with bilingual instructions (English / French).

Abandonment of toys

In July 1994, Bluebird Toys offered Waddington Games £ 20 million . On November 30, 1994, the games division of Waddingtons was taken over by the US game manufacturer Hasbro for £ 50 million or $ 78.22 million . Sales at this point were £ 25.92 million and annual profits £ 3.45 million. Through the takeover, Hasbro became the license holder of Cluedo and Top Trumps, among others . Waddington Games' profits doubled in the first year after its acquisition by Hasbro, and Monopoly sales doubled.

Takeovers by the late 1980s

• In the 1960s, La Ducale and BP Grimaud were taken over.
• In 1970/71, Alf Cooke ( Universal Playing Card Company Limited ), founded in 1866 and a major British playing card manufacturer since 1920, was taken over.
• In 1982 Dubreq , manufacturer of quartet games ( Top Trumps ) was taken over.
• In 1984 the House of Questa Limited , founded in 1966, was taken over.
• In 1987 Johnsen & Jorgensen Packaging was taken over.
• In 1987 Gilmour & Dean Ltd , a producer of bottle labels, founded in 1846, was taken over.

Restructuring in the 1990s

• In 1992 Gilmour & Dean Ltd was sold.
• In 1993, the Carthage Cup was taken over.
• In 1993, Waddington Business Forms was sold to Castletown Press Group , ( Adare Printing Group ).
• In 1993 Leeds had 2,700 employees.
• In 1994 Label Converters was sold to Castletown Press Group .
• In 1994, IMCA Beheer BV , a large Dutch folding carton manufacturer, was acquired for £ 44.9 million. This made Waddingtons one of the largest cardboard manufacturers in Europe.
• In 1994 the Waddingtons games division was taken over by the US game manufacturer Hasbro for £ 50 million .
• 1995 IP containers of New Jersey Inc acquired.
• In 1996 Plastona was sold
• In 1998 Waddington Cartons and IMCA were sold to Low and Bonar for £ 67 million .

Business figures in the last financial year

In the last independent financial year April 1998 to March 1999 Waddingtons had a turnover of £ 257.2 million, which was broken down as follows:

• Pharmaceutical Packaging : £ 59.9 million
• Food Services (USA) : £ 93.3 million
• Printing : £ 105 million

Takeover and busting

Waddingtons continued to exist as a printing and packaging company until 2000. In February 2000, Waddingtons was acquired by John Mansfield Group PLC for £ 289 million. Together with Rexam's printing department, which was also taken over in 2000 for £ 87 million, the company Communisis PLC was created in 2000 . In the same year Waddington Food Services was sold for £ 145 million and Waddington Pharmaceutical for £ 60 million. The company Cartonmaster , Johnsen & Jorgensen , Essex Business Forms , John Mansfield Timber and Studios were sold individually for a total of 4 million pounds.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Waddingtons had Monopoly in Leeds on BBC December 17, 2010 (English)
2. ↑ Waddingtons ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at Winning Moves UK (English) 
3. ↑ Waddington Games at Toy Shop UK (English)
4. ^ Victor Watson: The Waddingtons Story , pp. 165ff
5. ↑ ^{a b c} History of Waddington's Playing Cards ( Memento from August 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at The World of Playing Cards (English)
6. ↑ Waddington ( memento of October 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at puzzlehistory.com (English)
7. ↑ Patent GB586817 : Improvements in board games. Published April 1, 1947 , inventor: Anthony Ernest Pratt . ‌
8. ↑ RATRACE ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Trademark US72266042 at trade.mar.cx (English)
9. ↑ TENS ( Memento from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Trademark US73187377 at trade.mar.cx (English)
10. ↑ The Yuppie Game (PDF; 11.0 MB): Instructions at gamesisgames.com (English)
11. ↑ Toy Maker Hasbro Buys Waddington's Games Unit at orlandosentinel.com from December 1, 1994 (English)
12. ↑ Monopoly at kilroywashere.org (English)
13. ↑ Hasbro Inc acquires John Waddington PLC-Games Div from John Waddington PLC ( Memento from August 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at alacrastore.com from November 30, 1994 (English)
14. ^ ^{A b} Victor Watson: The Waddingtons Story , page 157
15. ↑ History of Alf Cooke's Playing Cards ( Memento from August 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at The World of Playing Cards (English)
16. ↑ Great Britain Companies ( Memento of August 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) at stampprinters.info (English)
17. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: John Waddington PLC launches a tender offer for Johnsen & Jorgensen Packaging at alacrastore.com from April 24, 1987 (English)
18. ↑ Gilmour & Dean's history ( Memento from June 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) at Gilmour & Dean (English)
19. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Investor Group acquires Gilmour & Dean Ltd from John Waddington PLC through a leveraged buyout at alacrastore.com on April 30, 1992 (English)
20. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: John Waddington PLC acquires Carthage Cup LP at alacrastore.com from June 7, 1993 (English)
21. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Castletown Press Group PLC acquires Waddington Business Forms Ltd from John Waddington PLC at alacrastore.com from June 29, 1993 (English)
22. ↑ History of Armley Mills ( Memento September 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at Leeds City Council (English)
23. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Castletown Press Group Ltd acquires Label Converters from John Waddington PLC at alacrastore.com from May 24, 1994 (English)
24. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: John Waddington PLC acquires Imca Beheer BV at alacrastore.com from August 31, 1994 (English)
25. ↑ John Waddington PLC acquires IP Container of New Jersey Inc ( Memento from June 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at alacrastore.com from July 14, 1995 (English)
26. ^ ^{A b} Victor Watson: The Waddingtons Story , p. 158
27. ↑ Lack of sales dents Waddington dreams ( Memento from July 7, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) at Highbeam Business from June 14, 1999 (English)
28. ^ Victor Watson: The Waddingtons Story , pp. 158f
29. ↑ Final Results for the Year to 31 December 2000 ( Memento from November 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) from March 7, 2001 at communisis plc (English)

literature

• Victor Watson: The Waddingtons Story by Jeremy Mills Publishing 2008, ISBN 978-1-906600-36-5 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-906600-38-9 (hardback)

Web links

• Waddingtons Games at Reynolds Collectors' World
• History of Waddington's Playing Cards at The World of Playing Cards
• Waddington's Games in the games database BoardGameGeek (English)
• John Waddington Ltd. in the games database BoardGameGeek (English)
• Communisis plc : website of the successor company (English)