The History of Benjamin Pollock in Six Acts (Act 3, 4,5 & 6)

Working for an enterprise with such enthralling history behind it, I every so often find myself speculating how those heroes of the past felt….  Whenever I explore the history of Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop, I see it as a vivid theatrical work divided into dramatic acts.

Raphael Pinheiro Gonçalves March 2020

The History of Benjamin Pollock in Six Acts continued

Act 3. The Daughters’ struggle

The year of 1937 was tragic for the business as so it was for the family. Pollock died in August leaving lots of heirs along lots of complications related to the future of the shop. His daughters Louise and Selina were the ones who ended up keeping the old art of cut-out, paste and cardboard theatre alive. Miniature toy theatres were created by the ladies, who worked in partnership with various artists. Some actors were among the shop’s patrons along with adults and children, but the business was not profitable enough to support the Pollock daughters.

Those were very tough days. The lithograph stones were extremely heavy and they could not manage printing from them. The sheets were slowly going out of print. In August 1944 they sold the company to Alan Keen, an Irish bookseller who believed in an ostentatious toy theatre revitalization. The stock was transferred to a safe place and a month later a flying bomb blew in the windows of the small shop. The place became uninhabitable, so the old ladies had to leave their home. The new owners of Benjamin Pollock Limited considered converting that shop into a museum, but it never happened.

Act 4. From a brief success to a quick failure

The stock which Keen took over consisted of approximately 1,200 copper and zinc engraved plates; 60 lithograph stone blocks and a lithographic printing press; over 170,000 ‘penny plain’ sheets of scenery and characters and 13,000 of theatrical portraits; and 15,000 playbooks. Keen took over the stock in flawless shape but did not manage to pack it properly. A vast number of plates were irreversibly ruined.

Alan Keen and the actor Ralph Richardson started a remarkable production of miniature ‘Regency Theatres’ for the showroom located at 1, John Adam Street in the Adelphi Building. 

Alan appointed George Speaight as Manager of the enterprise and Speaight transformed the post-war period into an ingeniously rewarding time for the business.

They counted even with the collaboration of the famous actor Sir Laurence Olivier and his toy theatre version of the film Hamlet. In 1950 they moved to smaller premises located at 16, Little Russell Street. A year later a receiver was called in.

Unanswered mail and unpaid bills were piling up. The stock ended up locked in the premises.

Act 5. Marguerite Fawdry: Raise the curtains again!

In 1954, Marguerite Fawdry, a BBC journalist, was merely looking for wire slides for her son’s toy theatre, and found the business shut down. Following enquiries, an accountant told her that the stock might be for sale

1955 was a busy year. The business is obtained by Marguerite, who renting a shop at 44 Monmouth Street, moved the business into it as her new shop. In the same year the entire collection of plates which used to belong to the publisher George Skelt was acquired by Marguerite.

The museum was opened in 1956 in a small attic room right above shop. The business was carried on in Monmouth Street until 1969, when a rent rise forced the shop/ museum to move to its current location – 1, Scala Street. In 1980 Marguerite opened Benjamin Pollock’s Toy Shop – one of the first shops of the newly modernized Covent Garden. 

Act 5. Covent Garden: The show goes on!

The toyshop was sold to the brothers Christopher and Peter Baldwin in 1988. Peter was an actor and the shop`s Manager. In 2008, Christopher retired and Louise Heard, who had worked in the shop since the 1980s, became the co-owner with Peter until 2015, when Baldwin died. The shop is now run by Louise Heard with her team Simon and myself, Raphael.

Located at 44, the Market, the shop carries an essential part of Covent Garden’s history fitting in perfectly in the modern market. Known for its artistic atmosphere, Covent Garden and our toyshop offer together a true show in the West End. Covent Garden is our director and we, their actors. 

Update 2025: After the pandemic and lockdowns around the world alot changed. Whilst Benjamin Pollock’s Toyshop has now revived and thrived, the Pollock’s Toy Museum that was owned and ran by Eddy Fawdry was closed and the collection is now with his grandson Jack and Pollock’s Toy Museum Trust who are looking for a permanent home. If you want to see pictures and a comprehensive history of the Fitzrovia Museum then see here.