Parakeet boy

This figure of a boy with a parakeet on his right arm is one of the most popular figures of children ever made by Royal Worcester. He was designed and modelled by Freda Doughty in 1935 and was produced in nine different colours over a period of nearly 50 years. He was also produced in a smaller size in the 1980’s.The only modeller consistently to produce what the public seemed to require was Freda Doughty and the steady sale of her charming small children figure subjects was one of the few bright spots in sales and many of these subjects have continued in popularity. Freda Doughty had a great way with children, her house in which she lived with her sister Dorothy always being full of children so that she was able to observe them in play. One visitor commented ‘what a happy lot of grandchildren you have’, a remark which greatly pleased Miss Doughty. Many series were created, the most popular being a child representing each month of the year and the days of the week. Add to all these a large number of Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose, children of different countries (Burma, India and China are still produced) and such enormously popular figures as ‘Grandmother’s Dress’ and ‘Boy with Parakeet’, many of the figures appearing under different titles when painted in different colours, and it may be realised that hundreds of thousands of Freda Doughty figures have been made. The painters of the greater number of the early children figures were Daisy Rea and her sister. Grandmother’s dress & Boy with Parakeet are two of the most popular Freda Doughty models.