In 1893, William Britain perfected the metal hollow casting process that led to the production of hollow ‘cost effective’ lead toy soldiers. This method had already been utilised to some degree by German manufacturers, but it was William Britain that led the way in creating affordable lead toy figures.
In 1959, William Britain purchased the Herald Miniatures toy company which had been successfully manufacturing plastic toy soldiers. William Britain embraced this new method and began producing a wide range of toy soldiers in plastic. By the 1970s, the company became widely known as ‘Britains’. Toys appearing on the market under this name included farm sets and animals, military vehicles and play sets, a space series, and the hugely popular range of military and Wild West ‘Deetail figures’ with their instantly recognisable metal bases. Today, the company specialises in die cast toy soldiers and accessories, featuring armies from numerous time periods.
TVTA is pleased to present a number of print adverts and catalogue pages featuring the Britains range across the years.
Britains Fort Apache. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.
Britains armies of the world. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.
Britains farm and zoo toys. Arbois toy catalogue. France C1978.
Britains Wild West. US. FAO Schwarz catalogue 1980/1981
Britains Farm. Denmark. 1970.
Britains toys. UK. Hamleys Christmas Book. 1983.
Britains farm. France. PIf Gadget. 1983.
Britains farm and knights. Denmark. Anders And & Co. 1984.
Britains farm. France. Pif Gadget. 1979.
Britains Power Farm. De Speelboom. 1987. Netherlands.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Britains Catalogue. 1979.
Thanks for looking 😊 Post updated with new images December 2022.
The Vintage Toy Advertiser 
This really is a nice peice of information on Britains, I well written article. Although one thing I can’t find out today, who now owns Britains. I know Britains farm toys were previously owned by Learning Curve only as far back as the end of 2011, but it appears the official page on Learning Curve website for the Britains range has disappeared and now I find I end up on the Official UK Tomy website for the Britains brand. I can find no information on Wikipedia or other websites which is very strange from such a big brand providing no news releases anywhere online.
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Thanks Nick. It looks like they’re still owned by the First gear company: http://www.wbritain.com/home.cfm
Their WBritain web pages contain up to date (May 2012) information on it, plus new releases for this year.
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