J. H. Skinner & Co. was established in the late 1880s, to manufacture and supply cameras and fretsawing materials and equipment. As early as 1884 John Henry Skinner had published fretwork designs, and had another business that imported fretwork materials among other things. That business was dissolved in 1890 and it seems that those activities were folded into J. H. Skinner & Co. The first J. H. Skinner & Co. catalog was published in 1887, filled with tools, equipment and designs for fretwork. That same year, Herbert Jewson was hired as chief engineer. He would become a director of the company and continued in that role until shortly before his death in 1932. He would design many of the company's products as well as their manufacturing machines and processes.

In 1895 Skinner began publishing a magazine, Hobbies Weekly, the idea and execution being due to John's brother, Frank Skinner. Within three years it had a circulation of 50,000 copies, and it would remain in publication until 1965 and it was a major driver of product sales.

In 1897 the company name was changed from J. H. Skinner & Co. to Hobbies Ltd. Around this time they began manufacturing their own scrollsawing machines, as well as scrollsaw blades that were produced on machinery developed by Jewson. They would ultimately manufacture tens of thousands of scrollsawing machines in their factory in Dereham, and by the 1930s they were making 10 million blades per year. Other products manufactured by Hobbies Ltd. included cameras, model steam engines, garden swings, and various electrical gadgets.

Beginning in about 1900 they opened a chain of stores and established a network of selling agents across the UK and as far as Toronto, Canada.

In 1903 John Henry Skinner left the business and moved to South Africa to pursue another business interest, that of manufacturing plywood. John's brother, Frank Skinner, became managing director of Hobbies Limited. A fire in 1907 destroyed much of the company's manufacturing machinery as well as the molds and patterns used to make castings. In the aftermath of the fire, Frank Skinner and three others left Hobbies Limited to form a direct competitor, Handicrafts Limited. The four stole a list of names and addresses of over 80,000 Hobbies customers and sent them copies of a new publication, Home Handicrafts Arts & Pastimes. Predictably, Hobbies Limited sued and won damages plus a prohibition against Handicrafts using the ill-gotten customer information. Handicrafts continued in business and there would be more lawsuits between the two companies.

During World War I, Hobbies Limited continued production but also manufactured munitions. Fretwork became even more popular in the ensuing couple of decades, which represent a high water mark for the company. By the beginning of World War II, however, fretwork had ceased to be fashionable. During WWII the company again manufactured munitions. After the end of the war a change can be seen in the Hobbies Weekly magazine, with fewer fretsaw patterns and a greater emphasis on making toys and gifts. Despite the decline in popularity of fretwork the company continued to do well in the aftermath of the war, at least in part because toys and gift items remained in short supply.

Despite the good financial position they were in during the 1940s and '50s the company failed to invest in their factory and much of their machinery dated from the World War I era. They became increasingly uncompetitive, and in 1964 the company was sold by the directors to Industrial & Commercial Holdings Ltd., who were primarily interested in the retail side of the business. They sold off the factory and the engineering part of the business and this was the end of machine manufacturing by Hobbies Ltd. The magazine was shut down in 1965, though the Hobbies Annual was published until 1968. In that year the company name changed to Exham Realisations Ltd., and it seems that it soon ceased doing business. This was the end of the original Hobbies Limited.

Ivan Stroulger was a longtime Hobbies Limited employee. Jobless as a result of the 1968 shutdown, he started a business, Dereham Handicrafts, to make and sell doll house kits. In 1977 he acquired the rights to the original Hobbies name and logo, and changed his company's name to Hobbies (Dereham) Ltd. The company expanded into fretwork designs, which had a resurgence in popularity for a time. They also developed a line of woodworking project kits which proved to be successful. When Stroulger retired in 1990 his two sons took charge of the company. In 2005 the company was sold and the company was relocated to Raveningham, the name becoming Hobbies Ltd. This firm remains in business today.

Information Sources

• Much of the history given here is taken from Scrimper's Fretworking Site page on Hobbies history, which also has information on the various scrollsaw models made by Hobbies Ltd.
• Patent GB-189,722,960, granted 1897-12-04. "We, HOBBIES, LIMITED, of 12 Paternoster Square, in the City of London, and HERBERT JEWSON, of East Dereham, in the County of Norfolk, Engineer..."
• The New Scroll Saw Handbook, by Patrick Spielman, 2002, has this information:

  Hobbies Limited of England copied the popular American-made Rogers saw [made by Millers Falls Co.], calling it the Briton. In the 1800s, Hobbies Limited imported many other American saws, copied them, and made improvements where practical. Hobbies was one of the first companies to produce a spiral, spring-tensioned blade and a true vertical stroke. This was actually the forerunner of the rigid-arm machines popular from the 1930s to '60s.