Probably you are one of the many people that don't know who the inventor of the stroller is. If you have been wondering, his name was William Kent. He was born the 1st of January, 1685 and died on the 12th of April 1748. He is mostly known as an architect, furniture designer and landscape artist.
William Kent has made a name in each of these domains. In architecture he revived the Palladian style in England. In landscape he had a naturalistic approach of gardens and he is now known as the father of modern gardening. In the world of furniture designing he was much appreciated and you can see his work at the Hampton Court Palace and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
Kent had so much talent that ladies started asking him to design their birthday dresses. Thanks to his knowledge about the Five Classical Orders of Architecture he was able to perform this task as well.
William Kent became much appreciated and in 1733 when he was at the top of his career, he was asked by the Duke of Devonshire to design a stroller for the Duke's children.
Kent accepted the project and he designed a shell-shaped carriage. It was made out of wicker and it had snake designs. It was pulled by goats, ponies or dogs. The stroller was also comfortable because strings were added in the seats.
Kent's carriage had some disadvantages. Because of the materials used, it was very heavy and it implied high costs as well. Back in the days, these carriages were only purchased by the wealthy ones. The more complex was the design of the carriage the more wealthy you seemed.
Nowadays strollers have a different design and extra safety measures were added like handlebars and brakes.
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