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English children had a wide range of toys to play with. Images show teddies and other stuffed animals, puppets, blocks, and toy soldier. We notice that pull animals were popular toys in the 19th century. One of the most popular were horses. We see both small horses and large horses. Of course what a smll boy really wanted was a hobby horse big enough for hm to ride. A lot of images show trumpets and drum. One little English boy was photographed with what look to be his teddies and puppet friends at Christmas as well as a pop gun, probably in the 1920s. Notice the studio back drop. Clearly this is not his home.Boys enjoyed all kinds of guns. Girls of course loved dolls and doll houses. Boys in addition to animals liked vehicles they could play with like trains, ships, and in the 20th century, trucks and planes. A partiularly popular toy was a train, especially electrical trains in the 20th century. Older boys enjoyed erector/meccano and chemistry sets.
Girls of course loved dolls and relsted utems like doll houses and prams.
Boys enjoyed all kinds of guns.
What a small boy wanted above all in the 19th century was a hobby horse big enough for him to ride. They continued popular in the early-20th century. The hobby horse was a realtively expensive toy, Thus boys who has them tended to give from families in comfortable circumstances. We see large number of boys photographed on hobby horses. We suspect that it was an important photgraphers trivk to get a gppd portrait of a boy, primarily because boys liked the hobby horses. Most good stufios almost certainly had hobby horses for just such purposes. Thus the hobby horses in the portraits belonged to the studios. It is likely thst many of these boys had hobby horses at home. There were several different types of hobby horses.
Rocking horses were originally mainly used as a boy's toys especially when boys were preparing for military life, though some early rocking horses were fitted with an extra removable pommel for side saddle riding by girls. It was considered socially unacceptable for girls to ride astride until the 1920s.
Almost all of the portraits we have found showed boys with the hobby horses.
A lot of images show trumpets and drum. Boys loved them, but they were not so popular with girls. The noise involved also discouraged some parents from buying them.
There are both indoor and outsoor play sets, but they were very different. An indoor play set came in a box or carrying case. It was a cardboard, metal, and now plastic to creae a scene or themed play activity. The are collections of similar toys designed to work together to enact some action or event. Play sets are now all plastic. They involve includ figures, accessories (people, horses, cars, ect.) and possibly buildings or scenery, purchased together in a common box. We have seen play sets for boys done as as gas stations, marinas, a Wild West town, and much more. After World War II we begin to see popular play sets based om movie and TV shows. All of this seems mostly for boys. I am not sure if there were early play sets done for girls except of course doll houses which out date early play sets by decades. At some point, probably the 1960s, castle play sets appeared so the girls could play out their princess fantasies. I recall a pink princess castle I purchased for my niece at a Disney store. I am not sure when play sets forst appeared. I suspect in the 1930s. I know I had a Wild West play set in America during the late-1940s. I played with it a lot. It was perfect for shoot outs. I suspect that the time line in Britain and America was comparable. Outdoor play sets are back yard/back garden gym set affairs with slides and swings. Thus they are also called swing sets. Some are even more elaborate with a kind of play house into which the children could climb.
We notice that pull animals were popular toys in the 19th century. We think this was the case in the early-19th century, although we have few images to substantiate it. Pull tous were clearly popular at mid-century and this is clearly substantiated by the photographic record. One of the most popular were horses. We see both small horses and large horses. Pull toys were done as many different animals. The most popular were horses. Yhis seems especiallytrue in the early- and-mif19th century. We thought this was a generic childrens toy, but most portraits show boys with them. Pull toys weee mot always dome as animals. We also notice ships and trains. These pull animals seem one of the most common in photographic studios. I presume that they were actually quite popular at home. The larger ones could could bed a little expensive. These pull toys see to have declined in popularity after World War I.
Many toy were just for fun or imagiantive play. Other toys involved developing a degree od skill to enjoy. This would include bouncy ball, devil sticks, diablo, jump rope, glidr plaes, kites, paddel ball, skate boards, slinky, spinners (like tops), tiddly winks, yo-hos, and many others. These are for the most part individual games that children can play on their own. There are some group toys like coins (for tossing), jacks, jumpropes, and others. Many of these games have country associations and almost all have varying popularity from country to country. Diablo for example seems most popular in France. We note an unidentified boy playing diablo in his back farden. There are also gender differences. Jacks foe example were most popular with girls.
Images show teddies and other stuffed animals. One little English boy was photographed with what look to be his teddies and puppet friends at Christmas as well as a pop gun, probably in the 1920s.
Notice the studio back drop. Clearly this is not his home.
Older boys enjoyed technology related items. These included erector/meccano and chemistry sets.
A real favorite for boys were toy soldiers. Here we see two brothers playing with hand-painted toy wooden soldiers in a photographic studio (figure 1). The toys probably belonged to the studio to divert boys while their photographs were beng taken. The children who were from Plymouth do seem to be enjoying themselves. A British reader remembers the toy soldiers he played with as a boy in the 1950s.
Boys in addition to animals liked vehicles they could play with like trains, ships, and in the 20th century, trucks and planes. In the 19th century ewe notice pull toys are imobile models. Sailboats were popular because boys could sail them on ponds. Toy train manufacturers began experimentng with mechanical drive trains, but it was electric trains in the 20th century that really caught boys' imaginations. Thus the electric train set became a partiularly popular toy in the 20th century. For most of the 20th century only trains had motors and wonderful layouts could be devised. Maby faters nd sons had fun working on this together. Many boys put an electric train set at the top of their Christmas wish list. A HBC reader, Bill Ferguson, remembers his train set. And we have an account from another British reader, Norman Clausen, who has wonderful childood experiences. Later in the decade radio directed model air planes and cars became available. But they did not involve lasyouts like trains. Another popular toy was sailboats. The photogrphic record commonly shows middle- or upper-class boys sailing there boars in city parks. This is a little misleading. They were the most commonly photographed, but that does not mean that boys from more humble families did not have boats to sail.
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