Toiletries in the 40s, 50s and 60s

A great collection Morgana. I used to have a couple of Stratton compacts.

Thank you Tricia I just collect as so much history is being thrown away and forgotten, I gave all my grand daughter one each to chose for them selves, like ladies wind up watchs too they are not made any more either I have a few of them too, nowadays you have to pay for a battery need the tool or skill to open the back to get to the battery, or pay to have one fitted , years ago you just asked the time and wound them up I wonder are we going forward or backwards

Hi Morgana,fab collection. I remember having a Stratton compact mine had flowers on,wish I still had it,they were made to last. Thanks for showing us ladies such an interesting collection,regards Jan,

Thank you , If you would like one Mayjan you are welcome to one if you can collect it, I have a lovely one which you can't see with a beautiful Red Rose on it, also one with flowers let me know and I shall give you my address by pm.

Lovely collection Morgana. My mother used to have a little piano loose powder compact (baby grand) and the little lid would open to reveal the powder. My daughter has it now tucked away somewhere. I should imagine there would be lots of those about.

That sounds cute Dreamtime, I shall look out for one, I only pick these up when I use to go to car boots cheap, the lipsticks I found years ago fallen out of a dustbin.

Stratton jewellery was made by George Laughton and Co of Birmingham. In the late 1960s I worked for a time at Eddystone Radio, in Alvechurch Road, Birmingham, which was originally started by Laughton's (they made the silver-plated tuning capacitors for radio sets, and decided to make the leap into the sets themselves) and Laughton's had a factory on the site that made compacts and lipstick holders for Yardley. It was a typical old fashioned Birmingham sweat shop in those days - employing mainly girls, but also lads, straight from school, who were fired when they reached 19 or 20 and would have been eligible for the full rate of pay. They made some very nice things; I don't know if they still exist, but I doubt it now. The Eddystone site certainly doesn't. Laughton's paid very low wages; when they owned Eddystone, out of 300 people, only two people were able to afford a car. Even the Chief Engineer could only afford a bike!! The factory was in the old West Heath swimming baths, where they decamped to after being bombed out in central Birmingham in 1941.