THIS week we continue our look at the history of the iconic British company Hypnos, which was formed by the merger of two Wycombe companies G H & S Keen and W S Toms.

In the first article in this series, on March 8, we described the history of G H & S Keen up to the 1930’s, and on March 29 that of W S Toms.

We will now continue the history of each up to about 1970.

W S Toms

1939 was an eventful year for the company. First the Manchester operation was closed down and later that year, in November, the High Wycombe factory was badly damaged in a fire.

At the time the factory was employing over 170 people. The fire started in the polishing shop, which was back in operation by mid-January 1940.

The cost of repair was estimated at about £5,000.

During the war the company made all kinds of bedding, mattresses and pillows for the different military services. Some workshops were also modified to manufacture other types of components, for example the spring-making department was set to making springs for packaging radio valves.

The ‘’Hypnos’’ name was again used, in August 1944, as a trade mark for mattresses and pillows for the essential services.

After the war the firm quickly resumed its prestigious work. Toms export businesses was booming at this time, including making bedding for the Palace of Mecca for the King of Saudi Arabia in 1946. A special train was chartered to take ‘’Hypnos’’ branded spring-interior mattresses and divans to Persia in 1949.

In 1950 the firm exhibited at the Chicago Fair, featuring the ‘’Imperial Sleep Mattress’’.

The ‘’Hypnos’’ brand was now starting to attract even greater prominence, with advertisements appearing for ‘’Hypnos Beds – the Goddess of Sleep’’. For these beds an innovative new mattress had been developed – the latex foam spring interior mattress.

In 1954 Walter Toms was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

He died two years later on July 25th 1956, just two days before his 72nd birthday. His funeral was held at the Union Baptist Church in Easton Street and his body was then cremated at Oxford. Walter’s wife died the following year, and because of the two deaths in quick succession their estates were subject to crippling death duties.

Walter’s son William Alfred Toms succeeded his father as Managing Director.

The company was then completely re-structured with a new Board of Directors. However without the driving force of Walter the business declined sharply, particularly in the export market.

The company did supply the new hospital in High Wycombe with spring interior mattresses in 1966, but in June of the same year half of the factory in Totteridge Rd was closed down and sold to a property developer.

William Alfred Toms died in March 1969 and shortly after that an association with the Keen company began. Initially this was known as the Keen & Toms Partnership before taking on the current Hypnos name.

G H & S Keen

KEEN’S exhibited as part of the Wycombe section at the British Industries Fair in 1935 and Queen Mary visited the stand to thank Sidney Keen for the beautiful work he had done at Buckingham Palace. She also took the opportunity to ‘rest on’ a Queen Mary-style chair and promptly ordered one for Buckingham Palace! In December 1936 the Bucks Free Press reported that Queen Mary had visited the Bellfield factory ‘‘on more than one occasion in connection with orders Her Majesty had entrusted to the company’’.

In December 1940 it was announced that ‘’His Majesty the King had appointed the firm to the ‘Place and Quality of Furniture and Upholstery Manufacture’, the only company with this honour in the Kingdom’’.

During the second world war 10% of the firm’s output was for making components for the Mosquito aircraft and 90% were orders for the Ministry of Works.

After the war the firm were manufacturing dining room furniture under the National Utility Scheme.

Sidney Ralph Keen retired as Managing Director in 1955 at the age of 70 and was succeeded by his son George, who was always known as Jack.

He had served with distinction in the RAF during the second world war, being awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. In 1950 he was elected President of the High Wycombe Furniture Manufacturers Society, and also Chairman of the British Furniture Manufacturers Standing Committee on Prices.

In 1965 work started on a re-building and improvement scheme at the Bellfield factory, which included a new office block.

Three years later in 1968 site clearance begun for extension to Bellfield factory to double production, and an export drive was announced. The new factory commenced production in June 1970.

Meanwhile early in 1967 George Keen’s son Peter joined the firm and shortly afterwards was appointed a director. In 1971 the company acquired the share capital of the company H.H.Smith, and followed this with the purchase of W.S.Toms.