The Edwardian Baby
From His Majesty the King to 'his majesty the baby'. This phrase which was already known to the Victorians (it features in a 19th century painting by Arthur Drummond, and a popular song from 1903 by F Holton and J. Fredericks) and is very apt. Even in the poorest homes and largest families the baby was often the centre of attention, and Ada Ballin, the author of the childcare manual From Cradle to School (London: Constable, 1902) declared in her opening paragraph: 'No household is complete without children, or at any rate one little toddler, or baby lying asleep in its cot, but ruling the household with an autocratic if unconscious sway'. This seems to be a fair indication of how widespread this feeling was: Ada Ballin was a writer, feminist and reformer who seldom pulled her punches, let alone made sentimental remarks. Much more typical of her is an earlier comment:
From Cradle to School by Ada Ballin (London: Constable, 1902) (click image for larger version)
'In England more than half of all the children die under twelve years of age, and they die chiefly from insufficient clothing… From one point of view only can anything be said in its favour, and that is, allowing there are already too many people in the world, it will be an advantage to get rid of as many of the weakest of the newcomers as possible.' The Science of Dress (London: Sampson Low, 1885).
The Edwardian baby benefited from a considerable upsurge in the manufacture of baby products, as well as original research on how best to care for infants. Hammock baby baths of rubber on a rigid frame, for instance, were felt to be much safer for the child and easier for the adult carer to use; wicker nursery furniture was lighter in weight and allegedly easier to clean; and devices such as safety harnesses, cat nets to put over prams and cots, and walking aids were being produced in greater numbers and price ranges making them easier to acquire. There was even a thriving second-hand market in prams. Read more about prams...
Frederic Truby King's bestselling childcare book Feeding and Care of Baby (London: Macmillan & Co Ltd, 1913) was still in the future, though much of it was based on his founding of the Plunket Society in New Zealand in 1907 to apply scientific principles to the nutrition of babies, notably the absolute regularity of feeding, sleeping and bowel movements.
The Edwardian baby's clothes were evidence of the beginning of modern thought on this aspect of childcare too. Obviously Victorian baby clothes were still much in use - they were made of heavy and durable fabrics to withstand much boiling, bleaching and scrubbing and to keep the baby warm. This in turn meant that they lasted practically for ever, and many are still in existence. But lighter weight fabrics, pastel colours, and a delicate approach to decorative elements such as figured ribbons, embroidery and swansdown were now preferred by anyone who could afford them - and that was increasingly more of the population.
Child`s Christening cape; pale grey, hand embroidered. Made in 1903, Museum No. MISC.1241-1991 (click image for larger version)
It was even an age of beauty in such items: this Christening cape of about 1904 is made of an elegant pale grey wool which had been embroidered in silks in China, and finished with a grey silk lining and satin edgings; the yoked gown beneath is of cream silk with lavish amounts of embroidered insertion.
All this was assembled by the family dressmaker who could buy the component parts at very reasonable prices at a good draper's shop or department store.
