They are as central to British seaside fun as fish and chips and donkey rides – and now a wealth of Punch and Judy memorabilia has been saved for the nation.
An archive of rare books, scripts, music covers, prints and drawings, lantern slides, newspaper cuttings and research notes on the old-fashioned puppet show has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It traces the development of the format from the earliest Restoration-era performances of the marionette puppet Mr Punch, who was controlled using wires and strings.
From there, it tracks Mr Punch’s 18th century reinvention as a glove puppet in fairground booths and on London streets, and the enduring popularity of Punch and Judy during the 20th century.
Formerly owned by the late George Speaight, a historian of British popular entertainment, the archive was recently accepted by the Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the V&A’s theatre and performance collections.
Catherine Haill, popular entertainment curator at the London museum, said: “The archive is an excellent addition to the theatre and performance collections and the V&A can now offer a significant centre for research into Punch and Judy, its place in the history of the theatre, and its development as a British genre of entertainment.” The archive is being catalogued and visitors will be able to access it on the V&A’s website and in the archive and library reading room at Blythe House in west London.
Originating in the Italian commedia dell’arte, Punch was first recorded in England in 1662 in London’s Covent Garden by diarist Samuel Pepys.
By the early 18th century, he was a familiar figure at fairs, where he and his wife Joan were characters in the story of the creation of the world. Joan later became Judy and Punch moved on from his role as chorus and satiric commentator into the star of his own show.
During the first half of the 19th century, when Punch had disappeared from fairs, Punch and Judy shows flourished on city streets and in the countryside in one-man booth shows.
Following a decline in popularity after the 1850s, the shows revived towards the end of the 19th century with increased public leisure time following the introduction of bank holidays.