The First Bear of Known Character Winnie-the-Pooh

“A bear of little brain” however he is quite a wise bear with words like “You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think,” a gentle, supportive friend who now has the honour of a National Awareness day on the 18th January which is A A Milne's birthday.

I definitely get “rumbly in my tumbly” and as I get older I enter a room and forget why, I scratch my head and say “Think, think think”   

This first famous character bear has had quite an impact on our lives, who hasn’t played Pooh sticks, my grown daughters still love to reminisce, grabbing a stick when they approach our “Pooh Bridge” Do you have your own bridge to launch a stick and watch them race under the bridge in a babbling stream. 

It could only be the one and only, Winnie-the-Pooh -  One?  well I will hint at three bears! And I ask you to please bear with me…

We know Alan Alexander Milne brought Winnie-the Pooh into our lives and this year we are celebrating Pooh’s 100th birthday, and I ponder on whether he will get a letter from the King.

Milne was asked to write some verses for a children’s magazine and it was a rainy August holiday in Wales that saw Pooh Bear first being born as “Teddy Bear”  in a poem published in the Punch magazine in 1924, Milne was then asked to write stories for children and October 1926 saw the first publication of Winne-the-Pooh.

I mentioned a Trio of bears and feel that I had better better explain myself.

Bear No.1 

Milne’s son had a bear called Edward, and we know that it is Christopher Robin Milne who is the boy in the books and it is his childhood teddy that he received on his first birthday that is the centre of the story.  

Bear No.2

Yes you read correctly, Christopher’s bear was called Edward.  After a visit to London Zoo, he became captivated with a female bear called Winnie, short for Winnipeg. This bear was a mascot for the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and she stayed at London Zoo when her owner, Lieutenant Henry Colebourn was away at war. Edward Bear became Winne, and it is said the name Pooh came from a swan named by Christopher Robin.

Bear No.3

Those endearing illustrations of the original Pooh bear were by Ernest H Shepherd and the bear he drew were based on his own son’s bear, Growler, possibly a Steiff bear.  He had not seen Christopher Robin’s bear when he was asked to create those enchanting drawings. Unfortunately, Growler had a sad ending, as some teddies do, he lost the battle against the family dog, and is no longer in existence.

The original Pooh bear, who is approximately 20-22 inches (50-56 cm's) tall and resides in the New York Public Library and is a 1921 British made Alpha Farnell mohair bear, produced in Acton by J K Farnell & Co Ltd. 

Farnell bears are one of my favourites and to own a bear like Pooh from the 1920's, in reasonable condition could cost me in the region of £3,000, this I cannot afford and as you know I am big softy when it comes to the un-lovables.  I call them unl-ovables because they are in such poor condition and are easily overlooked like my early, humped-backed Alpha Farnell bear.  My Winnie-the-Pooh is a smaller version at 19 inches (approx 50 cm's) and has been sitting waiting for a very long time while I decide on how far to go with his restoration.

His “fur” is so fragile and with holes here and there, no ears, no eyes, no mouth and half stitched nose. Astonishingly on his left paw pad, he still has his original label, blue embroidered, dating him 1925-30's. All 5 joints are still in good condition. Yes the reference books are out and kept handy to refer to regarding those all important features that can help identify a bear's makers.

Where to begin on a bald bear that has evidence of a moth infestation as well as his other troubles. Personally I like to start from the toes up, so I get a feel for the bear and his fabric.  This approach also gives me thinking time on how best to tackle the all important head.

All the paw pads have been re-covered with a matching 100% wool felt, with a hole secured to reveal his original label.  Sometimes lining from the inside is recommended to retain the original paws on show.  The paws of this bear were moth eaten and any manipulation of them would have created further damage, so they are safely preserved underneath.

Original Alpha Farnell label

You may note from the photos the two holes to the back of his right leg have been under-patched. His arms didn’t need as much work, small holes repaired along with aforementioned paw pads.

Before and After

Earlier made bears, like these Alpha Toys teddies have a front closing seam, this was carefully opened, so I could gain access to the hole that was right next to the right leg joint, a very tricky repair, again a patch of a carefully matched piece of balding vintage mohair was placed and sewn into place.  These kinds of repairs are very necessary to avoid any further deterioration of a bear, especially of a bear who could quite easily be an antique of 100 years of age.  The things he has seen, the inventions from Radio; TV; Colour TV; Computers: W.W.W. and even the development of the telephone to the mobile phones we have today that are like hand held computers, the changes in the world in this last 100 years is quite outstanding.

Please note Teddies are very good at keeping secrets, so never worry if you should ever need to send your childhood companion to a Teddy Bear Hospital, they are very discreet and tales of your naughty adventures will never be told.

His tummy needed quite a few mores holes darned and repaired and he was then carefully topped up with kapok, I did not replace any of the excelsior, usually found supporting the shoulders due to the tissue-like condition of his ‘fur’  His original non-working squeaker, had no squeak to be found so it was not repaired but returned to his body, again a working squeaker would be too tempting to press putting undesirable pressure on his fragile body.

The Head - the part in most need of help.  The fabric darkened with age and adventures  which can indicate the start of its ability to crumble was thankfully not quite at that stage.  I decided I needed to investigate underneath the large cotton patch on the top of his head, where there was a large worn hole and this area of his head was very threadbare with fibres giving way. There were also holes in his snout, either side of the nose stitching.

There was some “mummy” stitching repair to the chin seam which I removed giving me a very convenient access point to underline the holes in his snout. They were stitched in place and the seam re-closed using the tiniest ladder stitch possible.

Next I needed to very carefully open up and manipulate a patch of matching reverse mohair to the left hand side of his face. Following this, the all important centre head panel needed lining in the same way to support the fragile fabric and most importantly fill in the gaping holes where “a bear of little brain” could not afford to lose what brains he had left.  I needed to top up the stuffing in his head.  The original stuffing was a mixture of wood wool and kapok,  I only used kapok to top up and support his fragile head, so perhaps this is why Winnie-the-Pooh is a little fuzzy in the head and has to “think, think, think” 

Checking my reference book by world renown bear expert Sue Pearson it mentions clear and black glass eyes were in use in the 1920’s by Alpha Farnell and I was lucky to have a pair in my stash of vintage eyes that have that handmade, not-so-perfect look about them. These were carefully refitted using the original holes for placement, resisting the temptation to perfectly align them.

With a gentle hand I created stitches to fill in between the lines that were left of his nose, the mouth and philtrum were carefully sewn following the faint reminders and a hint of black cotton from his original mouth placement.

While the thick black cotton thread was in my needle, again following the ghostly impressions the claws were replaced alongside the few that remained.  Some Farnell bears have a web style stitching to the paws, but I could see no evidence of this in his original paws and I was cautious to keep them as simple claws that went over the paw seam into the pad matching those that were still in place.

All that remains are the ears - how I ummed and arrrred (are they even words ?)  In the end I decided to age matching mohair and placed them again tracing the previous faint line of existence.  I will see over time as I look at his handsome face to see if they sit right and I am happy with them. He certainly does look very different from his original poorly condition. 

The traditional BWB hand knitted waistcoat with an added knitted bow tie was made in red, in keeping with the Pooh Bear vibe.  I didn’t think Pooh Bear as an elderly gentleman of 100 years would be still wearing his simple red sweater.

You all know I’m a big softie when it comes rescuing bears and more so when it comes to Pooh Bear. All bears are welcome, not just the Antiques but the Vintage and Modern Vintage are helped at Blinkley Wood Bears Hospital, welcomed into the Orphanage or simply adopted.

You are probably aware that the Winnie the Pooh image we all know and love was the creation of Disney.  From 1938 the daughter of Walt Disney was enamoured by this special little bear, which led to Disney’s struggle to gain full ownership of Winnie the Pooh, he acquired film rights in 1961. Those who have an eye for detail may note I have not hyphenated this Pooh bear's name, this was one of the changes Disney made.  We can also celebrate 60 years of the Disney Pooh Bear because it was in 1966 he first appeared in a short film, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” rather than a full length feature, which is a tactic Disney used to introduce new characters to the American public.

Returning to the topic of the three bears that had an influenced on the birth of Winnie-the-Pooh I  have rescued a trio of bears that are more modern vintage and only need a little TLC and I could not resist creating a simple pattern to knit the iconic red top we now associate with Winnie the Pooh.

I have called these orphaned bears, Winnie, Pooh and Growler.

Winnie Pooh Growler

Winnie, we may even refer to her in modern terms as an influencer, was a female bear and I decided I would honour that with a feminised version of the Pooh Bear look with a peplum styled jumper and hair bow.  Winnie was created by our long running British teddy making firm Merrythought, who produced their first catalogue in 1931.  

Winnie has been made as a Classic Pooh Bear by Merrythought, inspired by Shepherds drawings and she carries a label stating Made in England by Alpha Farnell.  The Farnell name was bought by Merrythought 30 years ago in 1996.

The second teddy named Pooh again was made by Merythought, a line of stitching on the foot paw , common remains of their label.  He is a little more vintage than Winnie, he is mohair with brushed synthetic paw pads, plastic safety eyes and kapok filled.

He needed a little attention to both arm joints as they were very tight and would not rotate, the arms then received a top up of kapok stuffing and closed up. Once that small task was completed I could then top up the kapok in his tummy and close up his back seam.  A gentle surface clean, brush and fluff and adorned with his newly knitted little red top and he was all done.

Growler is made by Pedigree who ceased business in 1988, we can assume he will be at least 38 years old. He is made of a synthetic plush, possibly the Bri-Nylon fabric that many bear manufacturers used in the 1960’s, which may indicate this bear may be older, so 38-60 years old. His type of label was around from 1946 to 1971. He has  plastic safety eyes and blacked brushed nylon foot paws, stuffed with sub waste made stuffing.

Winnie Pooh Growler

I hope you enjoyed this little Pooh Bear moment at Blinkley Wood Bears. If you want your own Pooh Bear Merrythought has brought out an Edward Bear who is a replica of the original Alpha Farnell 1921 mohair bear.   There are also many vintage Pooh Bears out there looking for a new home and to be loved again.

There are also walks in Ashdown Forest, which is known as 100 Acres Wood and the National Trust is also celebrating Winnie the Pooh throughout the year. 

Or at the very least grab yourself a stick and throw it off a little wooden bridge and watch it chase down a babbling brook.