Shower your children with gifts
Georgian parents were put under relentlessss pressure to splash their cash
The commercialisation of childhood is far from a new phenomenon. In fact, it can be traced back to the 18th century – and with that came a new kind of social pressure to demonstrate affection by spending money.
This phenomenon stemmed from what the historian JH Plumb dubbed a “new world” of children, in which childhood was recognised as a special period of life that should be free from work – and full of toys.
Georgian society was racing towards industrialisation, and this was reflected in the way that toys were made and marketed. Newspaper advertisements and trade cards from specialist producers bombarded parents with information about a seemingly endless supply of new purchases.
These purchases included everything from dolls and toy soldiers to rattles and, last but not least, the latest fashions. But parents who dressed their offspring in the best garments that money could buy risked exposing them to a new kind of crime: being abducted and stripped of their clothes. One 19-month-old was found “nearly dead with cold” in a passageway near a pawn shop in Chancery Lane, London in 1818. The Times reported that the child “had been robbed of its shirt, boots, petticoat, feather from the hat, and necklace, only the frock remaining”. With such crimes being committed, it’s little wonder that older Georgian children were warned of the perils of talking to strangers.
This advice was dispensed in children’s books – a brand new phenomenon in Georgian Britain. John Newbery was something of a pioneer in this new field of publishing. He knew all the tricks of marketing: his bestselling A Little Pretty Pocket Book (1744) coming with ‘ free’ gifts: a ball for a boy and a pincushion for a girl. But he also knew that parents wanted childhood to be a period of preparation for adult life. As his title page declared, his book was not just for amusement, but also for instruction. Playtime needed to be educational.
Not everyone could afford to buy their children books, toys and new clothes, of course. Parenthood exerted even more financial pressure on the poorest families. With more mouths to feed – and mothers unable to contribute to the household income – many were forced to turn to the poor law (poverty relief from the church and government) for support.