It's something I have been working since I found my first marked prewar Young fly reel from Australia.
Rupe (Elwyn) and I swapped info during his manuscript and he used one of my photos in his book.
There was a time any Brit reel not Hardy was simply called a "Dingley."
About the time I had most of my conclusions together is when word on Rupe's manuscript got out.
Have to say, easier for him to write the book on his side of the pond and with his connections in Redditch....
The big Redditch merchants, Allcocks, Milwards, began as needle manufacturers, and fish hooks was a natural outcrop. That grew into tackle, which was actually a small sideline compared to their needle business. Any history search of Redditch will find a giant overlap of family names between all these companies. James W Young's father worked for S. Allcock Co., and Young James began work there. He opened his own shop in 1905, though most of his output still went to Allcock. JW died in an accident in 1924, and it was his sons who grew the business, beginning the wholesale catalog effort in 1925. After the war, his sons' tackle business blew Allcock's and everyone else out of the water.
Big merchants like Allcocks, Ogden-Smiths and Farlow are perfect example of how complicated the system was, as well as how they played the artisan shops against each other.
Farlow sold 45 reel models in their 1935 catalog, including examples from Young, Smith & Wall, Heaton as well as their own Croydon reel works, further complicated by the fact their catalog claimed some of the Redditch reels were made in Croydon.
Allcocks exported reels to North America from all the British and Scot artisans even before WWI, and Allcocks Ousel went back and forth from Dingley to Young.
Ogden Smiths Exchequer began as Dingley-made (Alnwick), became a Young pattern 2a, then at the end of the 40s returned to son Ernest Dingley. Ernest Dingley, Alex Martin, (Scot) Milbro and Sharpes were eventually bought out by Dickson who then made many more Ogden Smiths and Farlow reels, etc.
It gets even more complicated in the 60s and on, with Shakespeare and Orvis buying German and Brit tackle makers.
You can see from my first photo on this thread, Young had thing for Shakespeare, copying their prewar box graphic to detail. In 1966, Shakespeare acquired Young, Allcocks, and Lee, already merged into Topp Tackle.
Grandson Jim eventually bought Young back from Shakespeare. They continued making fly reels until 2002, when they closed that line, and still make centerpin reels today.
this Revolution is s/n 94, and the cert paper dated the last month of production
Posted: 13 Sep 2017, 19:13 • 
ok, mostly - the 3671 in salmon size is a pattern 10a (not 16a)
