This appears to be a bog-standard Tilley X246 'Guardsman' from the latter half of the 1950s/early 60s in typical as-found, car-boot condition. A closer look at the tank reveals this:- You tell me...
Guardsman? Possibly not by then but I don't know when Tilley stopped using the names for lamps. What I do know is this is one I have been looking for for years. Not at all common and a very nice find well done. ::Neil::
Well i never seen one of them before dave you know i must have walked past dozens of lamps that looked like this just shows check anything out nice one dave well found cheers pete
It makes me wonder why Tilley bothered to change the stamping on the old tanks. You would have thought it would have been easier to keep on stamping the old tanks as X246 and the new ones as X246A. Then just use up the stock of old tanks and globe cages and when they're gone, begin using the new style tanks and cages. Seems a no-brainer to me, but then what do I know about pressure lamp production - especially at the Tilley factory! Maybe it was something to do with the move to Dunmurry which must have been going on around the same time. Why did Tilley move their operation to Dunmurry anyway? - subsidies or whatever..?
Hi David and lampies i wondered why they moved from Hendon to Dunmuury i personaly think it could be due to the fact that by 1961 the butane/propane stoves and lanterns had started to take off and the users had started converting to the modern stove/lantern which was proberbly cheaper to buy and being easier to use as all they had to do is turn a knob and apply a match and they have instant light it was an era when people wanted labour saving devices,Tilley may have decided to mover to ireland as there may be more rural areas where they may be more demand for a pressure paraffin lantern as paraffin may be a lot easier to buy than dissposable butane tanks. And it may be the reason why the quality changed as to keep down the cost of manufacture so they could compete with the cheaper butane lanterns this is only my opinion i may well be totaly wrong though
Tilley moved to dunmurry because the business was not doing so good in Hendon and with all the trouble in N Ireland at the time the jobes where badly needed over here and the goverment payed Tilley to base the operations in N Ireland the same was true for the car company Delorian they would have done anything to get companys to set up in N Ireland. Then the protection rackets forced tilley to move back to the mainland... BTW i have seen 2 of those lamps over here stamped like that???? kenny..
Maybe that round David but they have been fighting for 500 or more... don't you recall 1690??? The London government sent troops Into N Ireland in August 1969 To keep the two sides apart welcomed at the start but that soon changed to what we all know as the troubles What year did the Tilley lamp co come to dunmurry?? And when did they leave ??? Kenny
As someone who is from Northern Ireland and worked in Dunmurry for several years, the reason they moved there was that the government in NI in the early 60’s were giving substantial grants to firms to set up here. In the early 60’s it was actually a very peaceful place. One of The main industries up to then would have been linen, but this was in decline, and there were plenty of skilled workers looking for jobs. There is also a strong engineering tradition in Northern Ireland - we built lots of ships that didn’t sink! A couple of examples of firms which relocated to Northern Ireland in the post war era were BSR turntables, Grundig and Corfield cameras. Dunmurry industrial estate was a nice new one on the outskirts of Belfast built at this time with a lot of new housing nearby. I remember the factory in the late 90’s as being a rather quiet spot with an old Austin Montego sitting outside as their company car. It’s now a body repair shop for a major car dealer. During the troubles, they hung in for the whole time in difficult circumstances. The factory was on what would have been on the peace line, but they stuck it out through some tough times. That’s how the factory looks today.
Thanks for the photograph, John. I would guess from what you say that you didn't actually work for Tilley. As far as I'm aware, no-one here has ever had any contact with anyone who did, although I'd have though there must be a few still around - although they'd be in their 70s by now - with memories and so on...
Hi David, Yes, I know what you mean about the workforce. My dad was offered a job there in the 1970’s, but went to the Electricity board instead! Any time I went past it, I never saw much happening, but to be fair, I wasn’t taking a lot of notice then. If I ever come across anyone who worked there, I’ll find out what I can and post it here! I guess if they moved back to England in 2000, there may have been younger people working there, but I have a mental image of a lot of old boys who had been there from day one!
I have a newspaper article that somewhat documents Tilley's move. I won't post the article as generally anything from a newspaper is scorned around here. The article was written in 1961.
