Sydney Hulme Beaman Biography

Sydney George Hulme Beaman (1887-1932) was a British author, actor and illustrator. He was best known as the creator of the Toytown stories and their characters, including Larry the Lamb. He also illustrated the 1930s John Lane edition of a Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Beaman was born in Tottenham, London, on 28 February 1887, the eldest of three children. As a child he was particularly interested in mechanical objects. According to his lifelong friend Hendrik Baker, his attention to detail in his work came from his father.

Beaman attended the Heatherley School of Fine Art, and during that period founded the theatre group known as the Dickens Fellowship, which led to him being invited to perform at smoking concerts. He met his wife, Maud Mary Poltock, during these performances. After his stint there he turned to making wooden toys, taking advantage of the fact that Germany was no longer the dominant force in the industry. He began to weave stories around them, which led to the birth of Toytown in 1928.

May Jenkin, or "Aunt Elizabeth", arranged for his Toytown stories to be adapted into radio plays for Children's Hour, and when they became successful she wrote to Hulme Beaman demanding more. Beaman used to work out his ideas for the show in a miniature theatre at his home, using his original models.

Prior to his creating the Toytown series, Hulme Beaman was already well known for having created the strip cartoon Philip and Phido in 1923. This was about a boy and his dog, and featured Ernest the Policeman, later a main character of Toytown.

He was often in the studio while his work was being broadcast, and occasionally took part in the programme. This continued until the last Tuesday before his death. Later in his career he was inspired by the early Walt Disney cartoons to create marionette and animated renditions of his Toytown play The Arkville Dragon. He died on 4 February 1932 of pneumonia, however his plays were remounted for radio until 1964, and his friend Hendrik Baker would adapt his original plays for stage, vinyl and television over the next six decades.