Posted 13 years ago
mikeanic
(1 item)
I found this in one of my relatives house and i cant seem to find any information about the company on the tin. The Fred Collings Co.Ltd doesn't seem to exist anywhere on the internet. I don't think it would be worth anything but i would love to know a little bit more about it. The ribbon is present inside the tin and is fully wrapped in foil which is printed with the address of 38-41 Woburn Place, London, WC1 - Typewriter ribbons to fit any machine - Onion Skin (Regd). I would love to hear from anyone who would know about this ribbon. If you have any info please contact me at email: mikeanic@hotmail.co.uk. Many Thanks Geoff
Fred Collings Co typewriter ribbon backstory
Hi Geoff,
I saw your photo of a Fred Collings Co typewriter ribbon that you'd found at a relative's house. It was posted 9 years ago (circa 2011) on Collector's Weekly website so I'm not even sure that this email is either relevant or whether the address still exists.
Either way, here's what info I have:
I used to work for The Fred Collings Co Ltd for 8 years back in the eighties, so at least the information is second hand rather than third, fourth or fifth!
Mr. Fred Collings began his business selling typewriter ribbons and carbon papers of all different sizes and density back around 1908 and established his first shop/warehouse in Woburn Place London EC1.
Fred was apparently the consumate entrepreneur. He'd strike up conversations with people in railway cafes and having described in detail the nature of his business he would casually ask "...and whereabouts are you from?" in a conversational manner, and when he got the reply "er...Glasgow..." He'd produce a handful of business card and pass them over to his new friend, promising commissions on any orders they sent his way. He would the include Glasgow as a satellite office to better serve local businesses, on his next business card printing run. As part of his expansion after WW1 he took on a secretary, a Miss Parker aged 19, who was still showing up almost every day when I joined the firm in 1982.
Around 1970 the carbon paper and typewriter ribbon business was still in full swing with photocopiers and computer printers still some years away for the average business and the company relocated to larger premises at 847 Harrow Rd.
Fred had trade-marked the name "Onion Skin" for his products, after the ultra fine carbon paper he was renowned for, which resembled the aforementioned vegetable coating. Consequently all reps working for the company were known affectionately by their clients as Mr Onion Skin. Which is no big deal unless your arrival at reception is relayed throughout the building via Tannoy with "Mr Onion Skin here to see Mrs Smith" followed by "Just go through the typing pool...her office is on the left." Depending on the company the walk was either one of shame or hilarity as heads popped up in anticipation of some leper-like entity parading through their work space.
By the time of the move to Harrow Rd Fred had decided to call it a day and hand over the running of the company to his son-in-law, Brian Shepherd, who continued to run things until the company's demise in 1992/3.
The larger premises allowed the company to expand its product line to include everyday items of commercial stationery from stock with the slightly more exotic, expensive or larger items brought in from a larger wholesaler, Spicers.
The general atmosphere at Collings was familial. The two remaining executive directors being Brian Shepherd and Alan Upcott. Sadly the ever-loyal Miss Parker passed away in the mid eighties having been promoted to director many years previously. Mr Upcott handled the general stationery side of things while Mr Shepherd, the CEO, looked after the carbons and ribbons, spending hours in the warehouse cutting massive sheets of carbon paper down to A4 and Foolscap sizes before wrapping in brown paper and labeling ready for either stock or dispatch.
The clerical staff upstairs comprised 3 or 4 local ladies "of a certain age" who would manually type up the orders and labels for the packing department downstairs. Even though we sold the new-fangled photocopy paper and toner, floppy discs and ultimately, laser toner, we only had a small photocopier from about 1988 onwards. Before that everything was either typed up using carbon paper or run on the messy mimeograph machine with its blue semi dry ink. We got a computer and noisy dot matrix printer around that time too. Not a new compact PC, but a very second hand punch card type which took up most of the first floor.
Downstairs helping with the carbons and ribbons were Margaret, Gladys and Dave, with Jim and Sam, later replaced by Bill, pulling and packing stationery orders ready for the reps to pick up or to go out on the delivery van.
One thing I noticed was that the in-house staff all seemed to have some sort of slight social or physical impediment which would normally make finding employment somewhat of a challenge. Kudos to Mr Shepherd in that he gave people jobs, dignity and self respect when they might have otherwise struggled. Dave, for instance, always head down, never made eye-contact, kept himself to himself and other than a "Hi Dave!" I was never able to converse with the guy in 8 years.
Coming into the office twice a week to process and collect my clients' orders I was much more involved with Jim and Sam. Both were of Irish descent. Sam with his snow white, receding hairline, bushy white sideburns, small stature, but mainly his piercing little blue eyes and strong Irish brogue looked and sounded every inch like a misplaced leprechaun. Jim on the other hand was in his mid forties and had a mental age of around 11 and the physical strength of about 3 men. Sadly Jim's parents had both passed away, leaving Jim to fend for himself in an increasingly impatient world. At Collings he had his work, which he could manage, and a group of people who, generally, were kind and understanding. Once he left the premises he was at the mercy of anyone disposed to take advantage of such an easy mark. In conversation he had the habit of putting his face about 12 inches away and a pool of saliva would start to form between his bottom lip and his bottom row of teeth. After a couple of minutes talking, or rather listening to Jim the pool of saliva would begin to well up like floodwater against a faulty levy. So much so that one's attention would wander from the subject under discussion to a fascination with this very visible reservoir and wondering how long before it overflowed. One of the reps, John, would occasionally wind Jim up, knowing that Jim couldn't physically retaliate for fear of losing his job. But, that said, there were a few near misses when a box of 5 reams of copypaper hurtled across the warehouse narrowly missing a giggling John scampering for the relative safety of the upper floor. Those boxes must have weighed between 25-30lbs yet Jim in his fury flung it at John as if it were an inflatable beach ball.
In the early sixties it had been decided to take on reps to increase business and expand into pastures new. Five reps started and all five were still there 20 years on. Alan Upcott had become a director but the others had remained as reps. My boss, Malcolm and his pal John had started straight from school, were issued company scooters and sent off to sell. The other half of the sales force comprised of Micky Willett, who was a rather pompous white-haired George Peppard-looking chap in a 3 piece pinstripe suit and the rather more languorous and slightly louche ladies' man, Jack Carr. Characters all!
At 28 I was very much the youngster there. I was fortunate to have 2 territories amalgamated and that kept me progressively busier for the eight years that I was there. The others had been there forever and apart from Malcolm who. to his credit, wanted to keep things going, were showing signs of fatigue. Mr Shepherd was approaching retirement age and the carbon and ribbon market was in steep decline by the 1990's.
Profit margins on non in-stock goods were decreasing and the Big Box stationers were rapidly gaining ground. I emigrated with my family to Canada in 1990 and there wasn't much news coming through. I later heard that there were no candidates to whom the reins could be passed and so The Fred Collings Co. Ltd closed its doors and ceased trading around 1992/3. I think the building was sold to Cottage Laundry and has recently been demolished and rebuilt.
This has been a rather extensive reply to a very simple query, but like you I cannot find any reference other than yours to The Fred Collings Co. Ltd. on the internet. Since most of the people involved in Collings are either dead or very elderly, there is no-one to tell their story, however insignificant in the grand scheme of things it may be. We are entering an age where if it wasn't logged on the internet it didn't happen. So I thought I'd take this rather obscure opportunity to record at least some of the existence of this piece of 20th century everyday life.
On reflection, they were happy days which is possibly why, until very recently I had been having frequent, vivid dreams about my time there...even 30 years after leaving. Very strange. Perhaps now that I've recorded some of its history for posterity I'll dream of other things. In a way, I shall regret its passing.