W.J. Terry was founded as far back as 1890. It was originally a skin merchant and was founded by William J. Terry.
At the turn of the century, the company began producing soft toys that were covered in real fur. By 1909, after the success of a toy dog they produced called Terry'er (that was based upon King Edward VII's dog named Caesar), the company found itself in a position to open a large factory at 25 Middleton Road, Hackney, London. William Terry produced their first teddy bears in 1912.
In 1913, the company then moved to Lavendar Grove, which was also in Hackney, where they continued to produce the Terry'er Toys range, but which now included some mohair plush Teddy Bears.
Their Teddy Bears seemed to take on the overall look of Farnell Teddy Bears and that is the reason why, sometimes the two makers can get a little confused. Just like Farnell, Terry favoured using very large glass eyes and their bears also had very pronounced humps on their backs. They also adopted the webbed-paw claws. They made their first webbed-claw bears in 1919 and produced their first kapok stuffed bear in 1921 - this bear was called the Ahsolight Bear.
In 1924, upon the death of William Terry, his Son Frederick really struggled to keep the business going. However, just like many other companies, it was hit really hard by the worldwide Depression in the 1930's and sadly the company closed its doors by the time World War 2 had begun.
Some identifying features of a W.J. Terry Bear
- He has large clear glass eyes with painted backs.
- He has a triangular shaped head with a very long shaved muzzle.
- He has large cupped ears.
- He has large oval card-lined cotton or felt feet
- webbed claws in some bears after 1919,
- shield shaped vertically stitched black nose or horizontal stitching set high on the nose,
