Childcare
The Museum’s childcare collection ranges in date from the 1600s to present day and shows the variety of equipment that has been designed and made specifically for children and their carers. The foundation of this group of items is the collection of children's furniture, some of which has been in the Museum for over a hundred years, and which ranges from a 1641 cradle to an IKEA chair of 2001. Prams, feeding equipment, rattles and potties have been added, together with other aids for hygiene, eating and mobility.
Birth
Sumptuous items probably intended as Christening or birth presents include a silver-gilt pap boat of 1809, an 1864 silver gilt set (knife, fork, spoon, mug, bowl and plate) with motifs from Canova’s sculptures, and a large silver rattle of 1868.
Cradles & Cots
Rocking cradles have been popular for centuries, and are found in many different cultures. The movement is soothing for babies. A cradle (or cot, or crib) is the first bed most of us have. Simple ones have been made or adapted from natural materials. Some of the earliest beds for babies were rushwork baskets and hollowed-out pieces of tree trunk.
Feeding
A silver pap boat of 1735 is the earliest dated item in the group, contrasting with an 18th century American feeding vessel of pressed tin. The 19th century feeding items include a silver nipple shield of 1812 .There are other examples from the 1900s and the 1980s respectively; two breast-pumps from 1905 and 1986.
Hygiene
It was not until the late 19th century that the range of equipment for use in childcare started to expand. Mass production and the introduction of cheaper materials, such as pressed sheet metal instead of handcrafted wood or porcelain, meant that more people could buy such items.
Furniture
The Museum’s collection of children’s furniture is probably the largest in the UK, with over one hundred pieces ranging from a traditional English oak cradle dated 1641 to an ergonomically designed Norwegian high chair of the 1990s.
Prams & Walkers
Although the pram collection is mainly post World War Two, the Museum has a child’s 18th century carriage, a 19th century stick wagon and a 19th century perambulator by Simpson & Fawcett, one of the earliest makers.
Rattles
Rattles in their most basic form, as simple toys to divert babies, go back to at least the 2nd century BC. Over the years they have been made to simple designs in materials ranging from dried gourds, woven sticks and hollowed-out bones, to much more elaborate styles in glass, silver and gold.
