This card shows road signs, one of the most important safety features on any road. You will straight away see similarities between this and our current signs, though we have amended them over the years from being hollow structures like this where the symbol is suspended inside a solid border. Red, as always, means a risk of immediate danger, white is more advisory.
Some people say that the road sign was invented by the Romans, but that is not strictly true. They did have signs, but only for distance, and they also allowed local land owners to erect signs to notable locations and happenings. However there was no sign, shall I say, of anything advising you not to speed your chariot, or leave it parked outside the bath house too long on that double yellow line by the school.
Until the nineteenth century, we still only had the distance and name plate signs. In fact it was the rise in popularity of cycling, in the latter half of the nineteenth century, that led to the arrival of signs to warn of dangerous bends and steep hills, which needed caution in both the climbing and descending. Strangely the hill signs were not at the bottom of the hill, only at the top.
And it is true to say that many of today`s signs apply equally to cycling though they now primarily warn motorists.
Now a little digging has found out that the issuer of this card, Beatties was a model shop, by which we mean model railways. There was also a Mr. Beattie, or more correctly, a Colonel S. N. Beattie, and he had a business partner called Mr. Charles Whale. Their shop was called The Southgate Model Shop, but in the 1960s they moved and took on a pair of shops over at Winchmore Hill, one of which was for new railway models and the other was for their second hand stock.
This must have done well, because the story goes that in 1965 he heard that Bassett Lowke was closing down and he bought the entire stock in hand. Not sure how true this is though because it is also reported that Corgi bought Bassett Lowke as well.
This set is listed in our original British Trade Index part two as :
S. N. BEATTIE & Co. Ltd., Southgate, N.14
Cards issued in the 1950-60 period.SAFETY SIGNS. Sm. 67 x 36. Red and black on orange. Nd. (24) ... BFD-1
It was their only issue, but there was another part of it, which is listed in our original British Trade Index part III, as ;
S. N. BEATTIE & Co.- BFD in II
BFD-1 (SAFETY SIGNS). Series was issued with advertisement card, titled "Southgate Series", incorporating premium prize scheme based on letters on reverse of card.
This is tidied up in our updated British Trade Index, to read :
S. N. BEATTIE & Co. Ltd., Southgate, N.14
Issued about 1955SAFETY SIGNS. 67 x 36. Red and black on orange. Nd. (24). Cards also found with a) plain back, b) part of sign omitted. Issued with advertisement cards with details of premium prize-scheme, backs a) titled "Southgate Series", b) text, untitled, c) plain. Prize is for 21 cards spelling out the letters "ASK FOR SOUTHGATE SERIES" ...BEA-260
The only thing I have not yet discovered is which set our card belongs to. It has a printed back, and a complete sign, and whilst it does mention the prize scheme, it does not say "Southgate Series". Any ideas?
There are also a few missing from this list, please help fill them in if you can.
- Children
- Low Bridge - [often described as just this, but it continues "Headroom 14` )"
- Roundabout
- Signals Ahead
- Road Junction
- Cross Roads
- Road Narrows
- Hospital
- Speed Limit 15 m.p.h.
- Halt at Major Road Ahead
- No Speed Limit (Derestricted Area) and Speed Limit 30 m.p.h. (Built Up Area)
- Turn Left, One Way Only
- Hump Bridge
- Slow Major Road Ahead