William Hinds
British businessman (1887–1957)
William Hinds (21 November 1887 – 1 June 1957), stage name Will Hammer, was one of the founders of Hammer Film Productions.
Jeweller
Hinds was a jeweller from London who, with his brother Frank, attended Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith and owned and ran Hinds Jewellers. Hinds and his brother had different business priorities, and shortly after the First World War they divided the business in two.
Both businesses were successful. Frank's part grew into the national jeweller F. Hinds, which has over 100 branches across England & Wales and is still owned and managed by the Hinds family.
Hinds continued to expand his business until he owned 25 jeweller's shops. He diversified into other types of retail, including operating barbers above some of the jewellery shops.
Theatrical career
Hinds became involved in music halls and the theatre. His involvement included owning a number of seaside theatres, for example the West Cliff Theatre in Clacton, and performing onstage as a comedian, although it was said that the latter was not his greatest strength.
He also ran summer concert parties in conjunction with Jack Payne, the famous bandleader, and led a troupe called Will Hammer's Players, taking his stage name of Hammer from Hammersmith, where he lived.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Hinds” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.