Major Albert Smalley – inventor of the elder pith float?

Within the remarkable Peter Wheat collection—much of which has yet to be catalogued—are a number of fascinating elder pith floats made by Major Albert Smalley. Peter Wheat has written extensively about both these floats and Smalley himself, in Angling magazine and in The Pelham Manual of River Coarse Fishing. The assertion that Major Smalley was the inventor of the elder pith float has, however, long been a subject of debate.

An article in the latest issue of the much-admired Classic Angling, by Rod Fisher, provides compelling evidence that while Smalley played an important role in popularising these floats during the 1950s, he was not their original inventor. Elder pith floats were being sold as early as the 1930s by Grundy’s Angling Stores. These “Elfin” floats were patented in 1929—clearly predating Smalley’s period of influence.

The story does not end there. Fisher’s research also uncovers references from as early as 1892 to floats made by Charles Henry Cook, constructed in a manner almost identical to those described in the 1929 patent. Even more remarkably, the trail extends back to the Great Exhibition of 1851, where the official catalogue mentions “a float made out of elder pith, with newly invented caps to be instantly detached from the line.”

We are indebted to Rod Fisher for his thorough and meticulous research, and for concluding that although Major Smalley did not invent the elder pith float, the Smalley examples within the Peter Wheat collection are nonetheless of genuine historic importance—surely a welcome and significant addition to any float collection.

To read the very interesting  article in full, purchase your copy of Classic Angling here