Established in 1930 Merrythought is one of the oldest and most prestigious of England's toy manufacturers. For over 60 years the magic of Merrythought has delighted adults and children of all ages with a range of traditional hand crafted toys that are more than mere playthings. A Merrythought toy is a joy forever - a treasured family friend to be passed down from generation to generation.

A former Chad Valley employee who came to work at Merrythought was a remarkable lady called Florence Atwood. A deaf mute, Florence had studied at the "Deaf and Dumb School" in Manchester. Until her health declined in 1949 Florence was chief designer for Merrythought. Some of her characters remain as popular today as ever and are still produced using the original patterns.

By 1939 over 200 people worked at Merrythought but on the 3rd September 1939 when World War 2 began the British Admiralty took over the factory buildings for use in vital map-making work.

In March 1946 Merrythought were able to restart production at the Coalbrookdale works and Mr B Tayton Holmes, son of the founder, came to the factory and with his management the factory began to expand again.

Jacqueline Revitt is the current designer of all Merrythought's animals. She started working for Merrythought in 1972 following extensive training as a clothing designer and pattern cutter. Jacqueline gets her inspiration for realism by watching animals in action. Having drawn the animal in profile she then engineers the joining parts to create patterns from which the design can be cut in mohair or plush cloth. After the pattern has been created Jacqueline and her assistant produce a factory model for approval and continually check the production to ensure that the final product is up to the standard of the original model.

The present Managing Director Oliver Holmes is the original founder's grandson, who joined the factory in 1972 after training as an engineer. Merrythought remains a family business to this day and continues to create a delightful range of beautifully made soft toys. There is nothing mass produced about a Merrythought Toy because each animal is lovingly hand-crafted. No two animals of any design are ever exactly the same. In fact through every stage of production Merrythought does everything it can to ensure that only the best in top quality soft toys can bear the prestigious Wishbone label.