Leather carry case for Agfa 'Movex' 16 mm movie camera: John Thyne Reid

Brown leather carry case for Agfa 'Movex' 16 mm movie camera. The case is rectangular in shape with an adjustable leather strap that passes through leather loops at the bottom and sides of the case, and lies flat along the sides before forming a loop over the top. There is a small leather carrying handle similarly secured to the lid which closes using a metal latch. The case is compartmentalised and lined with blue velveteen.

A leather carry case for the Agfa 16 mm movie camera used by John Thyne Reid, born 15 October 1903 at Randwick, Sydney NSW. His father owned James Hardie Pty Ltd. He developed an aptitude for business at an early age and in 1923, started working for Hardie's in Sydney. In 1932, he was sent to the Melbourne branch of the company and, by 1936, rose to the position of manager.

When the Second World War started, his elder brother Andrew Thyne Reid enlisted (in December 1939) with the Ordnance Corps where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Reid's father, Andrew Reid died in 1939 and for the duration of the war, John Reid ran the company.

Reid, who was a keen photographer, took this footage of the 17th Brigade, 6 Division marching through the streets of Melbourne - there is a possibility that his brother was among those marching. When his brother returned they shared the running of Hardie's until Andrew's death in 1966; after that, he ran the company and its holding companies exclusively until his retirement in 1974.

In 1974 he was knighted. Sir John Reid died in 1984.