Farebrother concentric darts
Back in 2003 a
visitor to my website asked me if I knew anything about a darts manufacturing
company called Farebrother.
The enquirer knew little about the company exccept for what
was written on the box of the set of darts he had purchased. The sum total of
my knowledge of the company at that time was about the same. I promised to try
and find out more.
In early 2004 I placed a letter in Darts World
asking for information. Two readers responded one recalling that Farebrother
Darts were sold ‘years ago’ at a sports shop called ‘Up and Running’ in High
Wycombe, the other telling me that Farebrothers was based in a ‘tatty
building’ in Hornsey Road, Holloway, London. According to this latter source
‘Farebrother and his wife ran the business’ although my source seemed to think
that ‘Farebrother himself was only in it for the interest and to keep out of
his wife’s way’!
Farebrother Darts - Photo David O'Brien
In the summer of 2004 a darts fan named David O’Brien
contacted me stating that he had read my plea on my website and that he had
recently purchased a set of Farebrother darts. The box carried the address ‘H.
B. Farebrother Limited, London’ but, more interestingly it also bore a patent
number. Further research by Dave revealed that the patent was applied for
under the names of Albert Stanley Kirk of Holloway, London and Henry Balcombe
Farebrother of Palmers Green in 1952 and that the patent was granted in 1954.
In June 2004 there was a further breakthrough. Through a
contact in the darts business I was put in touch with Sidney Payne, a nephew
of Henry (known as ‘Harry’) B. Farebrother, and he revealed the history of the
company from his perspective.
Harry set up the Farebrother company when he came out of the
army after the Great War. Harry and was based in Finsbury Park, London making
tennis rackets. (Harry was an enthusiastic tennis player.) From there he went
on to import cricket bats and balls from India and the company thrived. Indoor
games, including darts, came later, circa late 1940s/early 1950s. By then the
company was based in Holloway, north London.
Farebrother Limited was never into direct sales
concentrating on trade only. It never had a shop. The company was based in
Hornsey Road, Holloway, N.19 and consisted of a Ground Floor (where the
machinery was accommodated), whilst on the first and second floors three or
four ladies assembled the darts and packed them. The stock room was also on
the second floor.
Sid told me that in the early 1940s, when brass was in
short supply, Harry used to go to Unicorn Products Ltd., at Upper Norwood,
south-east London to source his material. At that time the Unicorn engineering
side was machining items for the government and had an allocation of brass
rods. Harry purchased some of these rods from Unicorn so that he could make
his own darts. He apparently helped to pin (put the points in) the dart
barrels and then bought the barrels off of Lowy at 6d a gross.
Harry then purchased plastic for the flights and the
cardboard boxes which at first did not bear the Farebrother name. During the
late 1950s/early 1960s Farebrother’s made feather flights. Workers were
trained to stick the left-hand wing on the stem whilst others were trained to
put the right-hand wing on the stem. Neither was allowed to do the others job.
At one stage there was a shortage of English turkey feathers so they were
imported from the USA.
In early 1950s Farebrothers started making their own
dartboards. They utilised poplar wood (they used to buy ¾ inch, 1 inch and 1½
inch sections) and also paper from Scotts of Basildon, Essex (manufacturers of
the Scott “Keep Drye” dartboard).
Sid joined the company in the late 1950s as a commercial
traveller and covered England from Cornwall up to the Humber and Lincolnshire.
By this time the selling was easy as darts as a game was very popular and so
darts were sold by most sports shops. Sid recalls working one week ‘on
the road’ and then one week dealing with orders. The company exported
darts to many countries including Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
According to Sid Payne, Farebrother was one of the first
companies to manufacture tungsten darts. It was an expensive process Sid
recalling that sometimes the tools used in the manufacturing process ‘wouldn’t
stand up to the tungsten’. This was in the mid-to-late 1960s but, Sid said
“There was no demand at all.” The shopkeepers sold a set of Farebrother
tungstens at £3 per set which was a large amount of money is those days. Sid
told me, “They’d have one set. The next time they’d say, “I’ll have three
sets.”” Hardly big orders!
Harry left Farebrother Limited in early 1970s by which
time Sid was Director of the company. Sid worked there until 1992 when he
retired at the age of 65 and the business (or rather the stock) was sold to
Bullseye Ltd., of Watford circa 1995/6.
Patrick Chaplin
© 2009 Patrick Chaplin
Photo: David O’Brien
With special thanks to Sid Payne and Andy and Marion
Andrews |
