Who Was The Person That Originally Invented The Baby Pram?

For as long as there have been babies there has been a need to carry them around, which means that since the dawn of human history, there has been a need for something like a classic pram.

Since the invention of the wheel, there has been the capacity to create baby carriages, but it took a remarkably long time for the pram as we know it today to be invented.

The reason for this was far less technological and more social; it was rare for a baby to be carried outside of the home for thousands of years, and when they were, they were typically carried using swaddling cloths or by a nanny, depending on class.

However, by the 18th century, early prototypical strollers were being invented, and one of the biggest innovators in that regard was the architect and early interior designer William Kent.

A man of many talents who invented the English garden as it existed for centuries, William Kent was commissioned by the Duke of Devonshire in 1833 (most likely William Cavendish, Third Duke of Devonshire) to build a transportation that would make it easier for him to carry his tradition.

As a furniture designer and innovator, William Kent took the challenge and constructed a basket on wheels, lavishly decorated and shaped like a shell that children could comfortably sit in.

Unlike modern prams that are meant to be pushed by a person, Mr Kent’s original design was designed to be pulled by a goat or particularly small pony, which is part of the reason why a pram is sometimes known as a baby carriage.

By the 1840s, they had become incredibly popular, with Queen Victoria having three of them, and many companies forming to create the type of elaborate pram designs that have proved influential over the decades.