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I always find it interesting to note that there are always more than meets the eye with children’s nursery rhymes.

The rhyme is simply a child’s riddle is a further possibility to its origins. Modern illustrations portray ‘ Humpty Dumpty’ as an egg, although no-one seems to know why. The earliest publication can be found in Samuel Arnold’s ‘ Juvenile Amusements’ published in 1797 although the lyrics are slightly different:Ĭould not make Humpty Dumpty where he was before One can imagine the drinker of such a concoction to be trifle unsteady on one’s feet after consumption. The Old English Dictionary suggests that ‘ Humpty Dumpty’ was a term used for a drink of boiled brandy and ale in the 17th century. Other suggestions to the origin of the rhyme can be found in the meaning of the name. After all, hooves are cumbersome when performing intricate surgery. Naturally the King’s horses and King’s men were unable to fix the weapon. A Parliamentary cannon was fired at the gun and damaged the wall causing the cannon to ‘ have a great fall’. Similarly the town of Colchester claimed the origin of the rhyme has a link to a cannon that was used by Royalist defenders at St. Some have argued that ‘ Humpty Dumpty’ is actually Richard III after the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 because Richard had a ‘Humped’ back. Growing up it was suggested to me that ‘ Humpty Dumpty’ was actually a cannon or siege weapon used in the English Civil War (1642-1651) at the Siege of Gloucester in 1643. R ichard III King of England reigned 1452-1485Īrguably the most well-known of children’s nursery rhymes and its origins are shrouded in mystery. He marched them up to the top of the hill, How did I get from royal scandals to nursery rhymes? Well I’ll tell you.

I wish to talk a little bit on the origins of some of our favourite nursery rhymes. However I’m not ranting about that in this post. The issue for me is that the money spent to look after the illegitimate children and mistresses, hush money and parties were all paid for by us, the humble tax-payer. It’s not the strings of mistresses, illegitimate children, hushed up murders or extravagant parties that bother me, after all we are all entitled to a little bit of fun. It was a very revealing book and enough to turn the most ardent of royalists into hardcore republicans. I recently read a book called ‘ The World’s Greatest Royal Scandals’ written by Nigel Cawthorne. Why is Humpty Dumpty portrayed as an egg?