Childhood

This a selection of images based on the theme of Childhood from the 1890s to the 1970s. Also check out our Teaching Activity Victorian Life: Children at Work

Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of Oxfordshire County Council Cordwalles School, Maidenhead, Berkshire A school sports team, posing for a photograph in the grounds. The school was founded to prepare boys for Public School or the Royal Navy.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Flower Festival at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire Spectators watching a group of girls Maypole dancing in front of the May Queen who sits on a throne complete with page boys, with St James's Church in the background.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR School at Freeland, Oxfordshire A group of schoolchildren and teachers posed outside their school house which was built in 1871. They all appear to be well dresssed in typical late Victorian clothing.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of Oxfordshire County Council Uffington Castle, Oxfordshire A group of holiday makers on an earth rampart of Uffington Castle, an Iron Age hillfort, enjoying the Bank Holiday. Several young boys are playing with a toy cart in the foreground.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Portrait in the garden, Warwickshire A young child sitting on a toy horse cart a the garden. It is thought to have been taken in Norton Lindsey or Snitterfield. At this time young boys as well as girls wore dresses until they were toilet trained.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Portrait, Fawsley, Northamptonshire A young boy dressed in a sailor suit stands in front of a sundial in a garden in 1901. Sailor suits were fashionable in the Victorian period as Queen Victoria's own children wore them.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Street in Eydon, Northamptonshire A view of a street in the village. Abbotts shop can be seen on the left while residents of the village stand on the pavement on the right. The smallest boy is holding a hoop and stick toy.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Children packing tea at Butlers Wharf, London From 1921 children had to be at least 12 years old before they could work full-time, though some of these boys look younger. They appear to be labelling tins of tea. Their work benches are made of wooden panels and upturned tea chests.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of Oxfordshire County Council Poster for Taunt's children's party, Oxford, Oxfordshire Henry Taunt was a natural showman. He regularly gave a children's party at Christmas, admission 1/-, together with a programme of lantern talks and other entertainments for adults.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Trafalgar Square, Westminster, Greater London A group of young boys around a fountain in Trafalgar Square in 1911. They are all formally dressed.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Fancy Dress, Hellidon, Northamptonshire A view of two boys dressed as Native Americans.	Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Barracks Lane, Cowley, Oxford, Oxfordshire Children playing in the sheep-washing pool on a hot summer's day. Note how the children in smarter clothes are sat watching, not joining in.
Add to My Favourites Reproduced by permission of English Heritage.NMR Triang Toy Shop, Oldham Road, Manchester Dolls houses, trains, pedal cars and other toys displayed in the Triang Toy Shop in Oldham Road, Manchester.	Add to My Favourites Copyright Crown copyright.NMR Terraced housing, Bowling Green, Warwick, Warwickshire Children pose for the photographer in a court behind some run-down terraced housing in Bowling Green, Warwick. A pram has been left outside one house while washing hangs out to dry.
Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR River Thames, City of London Children bathing in the River Thames on the steps beside Tower Pier Approach.	Add to My Favourites Copyright English Heritage.NMR Punch and Judy on the beach at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk A cluster of children sit watching Uncle Lew's Punch & Judy Show. The Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth can be seen in the background across the beach.
Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Experimental archaeology Four boys from Bryanston School punt a replica of a bluestone along the River Avon in Wiltshire. This experiment looked at one of the possible ways the bluestones from the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire, Wales could have arrived at Stonehenge	Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Brockwell Park, Streatham, Greater London Children playing on a slide outside a high rise block in a post-War housing development close to Brockwell Park. The neighbouring block is Bedford House.
Add to My Favourites Copyright English Heritage.NMR Donkey rides on Bridlington Beach, East Yorkshire Children sitting on donkeys on Bridlington Beach in East Yorkshire.	Add to My Favourites English Heritage.NMR Hercules Road, Lambeth, London Children outside a three storey white washed house on the corner of Hercules Road and Virgil Street.