Happy Families

Published September 24, 2018 • Updated July 07, 2022

Happy Families by Norvic Mill, c.1920s.

Happy Families published by Norvic Mill, c.1920s. Go back in time through the sight of these delightful comical sketches of the families of Farmers, Squires and Landlords through to Milkmen, Ploughmen and Cobblers.

Above: cards from Happy Families by Norvic Mill, c.1920s. 48 cards in total. For all four card games they made each with the same back design.

I have long suspected that these Norvic Mill games were made in Norwich (Norvic was the Viking name for Norwich). Years ago I spoke to the Archivist at Jarrolds, a long established printer, whose premises were in a disused water mill on the river Wensum. The print and publishing side of Jarrolds was sold in 2005 and they concentrated on their retailing business. The archivist told me that the entire archive had been shipped to the buyer already. He had a vague memory that at one time Jarrolds published games and also, he thought, card games. Now I see online that the Jarrold archives have been secured by Norfolk county council and have been catalogued. A few pages have been published and I look forward the rest being available soon.

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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

United Kingdom • Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many. His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service. Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.