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Glazed earthenware feeding bottle with floral pattern in blue & white, with remains of a rubber teat, 19th century.

Dating from the mid to late 1700’s submarine bottles were very popular until the mid 1800’s when they were largely superseded by Siphonia bottles, though glass examples were still available up to the First World War. Early examples were made of earthenware, porcelain and even silver. Nearly all the famous Staffordshire potteries produced beautifully printed blue and white examples. These bottles had a hole in the top through which they were filled. The holes differ in size and many would have had stoppers (at an extra cost) made of boxwood, cork, ivory, bone, porcelain, pewter or glass. Others, with smaller holes, had no stopper and were designed so that the thumb could cover the hole and thereby control the flow of milk; some stoppers also have a hole in them for the same purpose. Until rubber teats became available in the 1850’s artificial teats were made of all manner of things such as cloth, chamois, parchment, rags, fine linen and leather in fact anything that could be sewn into a nipple shape. A very popular artificial teat was pickled calves teats. All these teats were sewn in place, often stuffed with natural sponge and were left in place until they needed to be replaced.