Bearly Inspirational: Florence Attwood and Mavis Rendle
By Emmeline Burdett A lot of the information in this blog is based on a Merrythought blog post about Florence Attwood, and on sources kindly supplied by Merrythought, including an article entitled ‘A Deaf Toy Designer’, by Doreen Woodford, which was originally published in the Deaf History Journal in August 2002. Photograph of Florence Attwood 1907-1952 Florence Attwood, or ‘Florrie’ for short, was one of the earliest designers for the English soft toy company Merrythought, and she designed all the 32 characters which appeared in its first catalogue, published in 1931 (Merrythought itself having been founded in 1930). A 1930s merrythought teddy bear Attwood was born on 24th July 1907 at Dawley in Shropshire, England. She caught measles when she was two years old, and, as a result, she became deaf. In common with her brothers and sisters, she seems to have attended Ketley County Infants’ School for two years, before being admitted to the Royal School for the Deaf in Manchester, England,...