Who made the brick rabbit?

This little chap, found in Market lavington has featured on the blog once before.

Brick rabbit (minus ears) at Market Lavington Museum

He’s a rabbit and we believed he was made at the Market Lavington brickworks.

This weekend, a museum visitor declared she had one just the same at home and her dad had made it – at the Market Lavington brickworks.  Her dad was Leonard Davidge, and, even better, our visitor gave us photos.

Leonard Davidge - the man who probably made the rabbit

Here we see Leonard Davidge who we now believe was the maker of the toy rabbit.

Leonard had been born in Market Lavington in 1903. His father, Edwin Davidge was a carter at the brickworks.

Brothers Alf, Herbert and our rabbit maker Len Davidge in about 1910

This studio photo shows Leonard on the right with older brother Alf and younger brother Herbert. This must have been taken in about 1910.

Gifts of photographs are always welcome. Originals are, of course, lovely, but often people want to keep their originals. Our visitor, at the weekend, allowed our curator to photograph the images with a digital camera. This can allow a little enhancement to be done so that the copies can look better than the originals. Do contact the curator on curator@marketlavingtonmuseum.org.uk if you have any Market Lavington or Easterton related items to offer the museum.

These days, we do not put original photos on display for they will deteriorate if left in the light so even if originals are given, they would be kept in dark conditions to preserve them.

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Tags: brick, Market Lavington, Museum, person, photograph, toy