Vintage WH Smith & Co Whitchurch Enamel Sign Circa 1940s

WH Smith & Co (Whitchurch) Blue and White Enamel Sign, believed to be dating from 1940’s, a stunning example of an original advertising early enamel sign that doesn’t come up on the market that often and a real collectors item, good gloss and finish with only a small amount of age wear around edges,

In 1837 William Smith a local builder opened a small iron foundry in Dodington where he employed three men to make metal fittings for him. A hundred years later W. H. Smith & Co Ltd was one of the two largest employers in the town, the company by then being run by his grandson and had a workforce of 250 making / manufactured “anything his neighbor might want”. The foundry moved from Dodington to larger premises on the corner of Mill Street, Castle Hill in 1860 and by 1879 the company had an iron foundry and engineering works in Talbot Street with direct access to the railway line. The Castle Hill site became a wholesale ironmongery depot and offices. William Smith retired from the business in 1858 and his son Robert Thursfield Smith took over. He had joined his father five years earlier and remained in charge until 1891. Items produced during this time were stamped ‘R.T.Smith & Co. Whitchurch’. Robert’s two sons took over the company in the 1890’s. William Henry was in charge of the foundry and his brother Robert Thursfield ran the timber yard in Green End.

Width  approx 38 cm (15 inches)
Height  approx 28cm (11 inches)