Christmas was coming
Apr. 20th, 2003 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewduckerTidying my desk I found a not I made before Christmas for an LJ entry. Erin was dragigng me around Edinburgh's Children's Musem which had a new room on Victorian toys.
Two things fascinated me in particular, the first being that Christmas as a gift-giving occasion was brought to Britain by Prince Albert, along with such things as Christmas Trees. This time coincided with the conversion of children from being seen as short, less useful people into something to be treasured and looked after. The combination led to the creation of the toy industry. The second was a marvellous 'educaitonal' children's board game I found where you had to move round various parts of the British Empire. The locations included Ottowa, Malta, Capetown, Cairo, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Delhi and Melbourne. None of which seem terribly British any more...
Two things fascinated me in particular, the first being that Christmas as a gift-giving occasion was brought to Britain by Prince Albert, along with such things as Christmas Trees. This time coincided with the conversion of children from being seen as short, less useful people into something to be treasured and looked after. The combination led to the creation of the toy industry. The second was a marvellous 'educaitonal' children's board game I found where you had to move round various parts of the British Empire. The locations included Ottowa, Malta, Capetown, Cairo, Ceylon, Hong Kong, Delhi and Melbourne. None of which seem terribly British any more...
