In 1938 the Gaeltacht Services Division of the Department of Lands a new industry manufacturing toys and small utility goods was established. 
All the administration and distribution of products was carried out by members of the Civil Service and the industries were State subsidised as the emphasis was on job creation and not profit. During the second world war exports of toys and teddies rose considerably and the Elly Bay factory worked overtime to meet the demand for toys (and teddybears) in Britain and elsewhere; during this time, mohair was not available so other fabrics were used. Mohair remained in short supply until the late forties.
Tara Toys or Erris Toys as they were known prior to 1953, produced their teddy bears at Elly Bay and they were initially made from mohair and hand stuffed with cotton flack and wood wool; the bears were jointed with cotter pin joints The "Made in Eire" label was used up until 1949  from 1950 the label indicated "Made in the Republic of Ireland". 

Pedigree also began 1937/38. They also manufactured bears in Australia. Pedigree started life in London as Lines Bros only registering the Pedigree name in 1931. They moved most of their production to Belfast in 1946. Further details below

Pedigree identifying features:-

• Label usually at the back near the neck.
• Short limbs
• no stitching
• pointed paws with non defined feet
• large round head with smallish ears

Erris/Tara identifying features:-

• label sewn into foot seam
• distinctive nose stitching
• laughing bear mouth on some bears
• musical bears common
• small semi circular ears high on head

Pedigree Soft toys Ltd

Pedigree Soft Toys was a subsidiary of Lines Bros Ltd established in c.1850 and was the largest toy manufacturer in the world in the 1930’s. Whose trade names included Triang Toys. The Lines Bros Ltd company originators were George and Joseph Lines. Joseph’s three sons, Will, Arthur and Walter set up new premises in Merton on the Old Kent Road, Surrey in 1919. This became known as the Triang Works and covered 27 acres!

The Pedigree Soft Toys name was registered in 1931 and produced amongst other products a range of prams, and by 1938 a whole range of Pedigree Pets – toys on wheels – made under the Pedigree Soft Toys label. Their first catalogue was in 1937, which included teddy bears. They were competitively priced which was important in the 1930’s and 40’s when the Depression was followed by the Second World War. The war soon limited production but by 1946 Triang had factories in New Zealand (1946), Canada (1947), Australia (1951) and South Africa therefore so many of the post-1940’s bears are real cosmopolitans.

In 1946 they opened a factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland. From 1955 they were the soft toy manufacturing base. They produced 400-500 jointed mohair bears a day as well as unjointed ones and a range of toys i.e. on wheels.

Pedigree was one of the main British producers of quality soft toys and great care taken in their QA. Once the five large cutting presses had cut all the pieces 50 machinists worked on sewing bears together. The heads and bodies were hand stuffed with wood wool while the arms and legs were machine filled. The bears were all hand finished and a team of 50 specialist workers produced all the embroidery work on the noses.

After 1960 the bears acquired a new look being made with a longer muzzle created by a triangular insert.

In 1968, Pedigree was taken over by Rovex Industries Ltd, another Lines Bros company. In 1971, the Belfast factory closed and Pedigree moved their bear production to Canterbury. In 1972, after the collapse of the Lines Bros group, Pedigree was among the subsidiaries acquired by Dunbee Combex Marx who collapsed in 1980 and Pedigree was taken over by Tamewade Ltd but in 1988 the Canterbury factory closed.

In the early 1980’s “Tummy Buttons” was one of the last innovative teddy bear ranges made by Pedigree. The child learned how to undo buttons and dress itself by practising on the Teddy’s clothes, all robustly made to withstand rough play.

Labels: They had printed sewn-in labels with “MADE IN ENGLAND” red text on the cream background. If made in Ireland then the text was printed in blue. They had a factory in New Zealand too. For the New Zealand market the bears had velvet inner ears and paw pads, plus claws and a stitched

For bears for sale please use the Search box "Irish for sale"