Games And Toys During The Tudor Era That Were To Die For… Literally

Christiana Jelyan died at three-years-old playing a simple game we all have as a child. She was making mud-pies when she fell backward into a ditch. The fall killed her instantly. Children picking flowers often drowned if they were near water. So Ophelia’s drowning in Hamlet isn’t that uncommon during this time period. Nicholas Braunche was five-years-old when he picked up a knife off the table to play with it. He tripped over his younger sibling’s cradle and fell on the knife, stabbing himself in the neck. No wonder our parents always told us not to play with sharp objects or run with scissors.

During this time children were often around animals. Peasants tended to farms, and nobility also had many pets. An unnamed two-year-old girl was playing with a two-month-old fowl when it kicked her in the head. A boy, even younger than the girl, followed a gosling into a pond in his backyard and drowned. Exploring near animals is also dangerous for older children. John Watson was seven-years-old when he slipped past a colt and a mare in a barn. The colt kicked him in the ribs, and he died five hours later. Robert Craneford died after hitting a grey horse tied to a post with a small twig. The horse decided to kick him in the head.

Some children chose much safer games to play, but in the wrong place. Richard Sone and Joan Middleton were playing by Chichester’s city walls when a gale blew part of the 60-foot wall down on top of them and buried them. Robert Alcocke was playing in his father’s smithy when a scythe and large hammer fell on his head. Several boys and girls also played in carts. If they fell out of a cart, it would either fall on top of them crushing them or ran over them. Children playing on roads often were trampled by horses, run over carts, or smashed between roadside posts and traffic. Playing in an urban area often wasn’t safe for children, not that playing on rural farms was any better.

Water was also the enemy of children. Children playing around water often fell in ditches, streams, lakes, rivers, and wells. Toddlers often drowned in full vats of water, brewing vessels, or tubs of water left out for laundry or salt fish. One such child was looking at her reflection when she fell in. Watching adults or siblings while at work is interesting, since many of us want to help or be just like them. This wasn’t always a good idea during the 16th century since it caused the deaths of some children. William Gregory’s father was repairing a cart in his barn when one wheel fell off. The wheel fell on William’s head and killed him. William Rushe followed his sister and some other children that were driving cattle to water when he tripped and fell on a knife. Adults were able to keep small children out of the way by strapping them to chairs, but sometimes the chairs would fall over into the fireplace and burned them alive.

Older children were not immune to death by playing. Some fell asleep on the edge of ponds or roads traveled by carts. George Nycolson of Newcastle Sandgate died from smoke inhalation from sleeping in a lime kiln. Catherine Else slept under Marlow Bridge and was hit with a wave when boats came through the lock. The wave caused her to fall into the river and drown. As children began to grow though, they became exposed to the working world. During this time they started working at a much younger age than today, as young as six. In the 1550s, out of 61 children aged six or younger who died in accidents, only one died from working. The one child that died was herding pigs. 79 children aged between seven and 13, about one in four were working when they passed. Girls often fetched water or washed linen while boys drove carts, forked hay, or herded animals.

One of the dangers of the deaths of children was the fine line between work and play. Jane Nune fell into Loughton Brook in Buckinghamshire reaching out for a goose feather in the water. Was she playing, or collecting feathers for the down in pillows? Thomas Hubbard was ten-years-old when he became too eager for work. He was sent into the fields of Brundish, Suffolk with refreshments for the ploughmen. He decided to try his hand at ploughing but tripped over either a stone or clod of dirt which sent him into a passing colt. This caused him to accidentally hit the colt with the whip for controlling the plough horse, and the horse kicked him in the back of the head. He died hours later.

Thomas Cokerell was nine-years-old driving a cart in the fields of Reymerston, Norfolk under his father’s supervision. Without consulting his father, he ran and jumped into the cart as it was moving. The horse became startled and knocked the cart over, hitting Thomas in the head. There seems to be a lot of head-related injuries causing the deaths of 16th-century children. Watching adults play wasn’t a good idea either at the time since they could be very dangerous even for the people playing them. In 1552, spectators from eight to ten years of age were killed during archery practice in Louth, Lincolnshire and at a hammer-throwing contest in Corfe, Dorset.

When adolescence came about, they allowed their participation, but it was no safer. John Tyler (15), and Thomas Wylson (16) died playing football (or soccer for you American folks) after one fell heavily on a molehill and the other stabbed in the thigh by a knife from another player’s belt. Sadly, the farther along in life a person got didn’t make avoiding death any easier. Many children died playing games and with toys, and most were not as famous or well-to-do as Lord George Dacre. But their stories reveal the horrid dangers of games during the 16th century and how easy it was for a child to lose their life.

Where did we find this stuff? Here’s our sources:

Gunn, Stephen, and Tomasz Gromelski. “Toys and games that killed in Tudor England.” History Extra.