Toby Jugs

by Janet Carlile

Although today we often identify Toby jugs as 20th century Royal Doulton character heads, the idea and design for the first Toby jugs was conceived over 200 years ago. It is said that original version of Toby was based on an engraving of a character called “Toby Philpot” which was used to illustrate a song, The Brown Jug around 1761.

The first Toby jugs were made around the 3rd quarter of the 18th century in Staffordshire, England and are normally associated with the Ralph Wood factory. Early Toby jugs are, as a rule, earthenware jugs measuring about 10” high in the form of a seated drinking rotund older male figure in a tricorn hat with a handle running along the back of the figure. The front of the tricorn hat acts as a spout. Sometimes there is a lid that fits into the top of the hat. The mouth is normally partially open with some teeth showing, the hair long and stringy, and the figure dressed in multi-coloured clothing.

Although most Toby’s tend to be male, a female figure called Martha Gunn appeared in the form of a Toby jug around 1810. Martha Gunn was a bathing attendant who “tended” the Prince of Wales when he went bathing in the sea off the Brighton coast.

The first Toby’s were made using traditional potting techniques and many were made utilizing child labour. As their popularity grew new techniques were introduced and from the beginning of the 19th century the majority of Toby jugs were made in moulds with many showing seams where joins occur. Towards the end of the 19th century the majority of Toby jugs were slip cast and that is the technique still used today.

Throughout the nineteenth century the shape of Toby jugs evolved as did the materials used and took on many different characters including John Barleycorn, Lord Nelson and Napoleon to name but a few. The mid 20th century saw many factories producing Toby jugs, many in the form of Dickensian characters. There are a large number of shapes and sizes of Toby jugs on the market today, the majority of which are made by Royal Doulton in a multitude of characters shapes. However, it is fair to say that the best and most collectible remain those produced by Ralph Wood in the late 18th century.

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