Figures, or figurines, by Royal Doulton fill a very special place in the minds of todays collectors. The HN series, developed by Charles Noke and named after Harry Nixon the senior painter at the time,  first started in 1913 and have been in continuous production ever since.

Royal Doulton's sojourn into figure making did not start with the HN series of course. George Tinworth, one of Doulton's earliest modelers, produced many figures and child studies, partly moulded and partly hand modelled, during the 1880s and 90s. The vast majority of these were made in very small numbers, often only twenty or so of each. One particular series, the "Merry Musicians" which were made out of brown salt glazed pottery was more extensive. This series, totaling over fifty different models, were made in fairly frequent small batches and stayed in production from the late 1880s until just before the start of the HN series in 1913. However, there can be no doubt, when people talk about ceramic figurines it is the Royal Doulton HN series that comes to mind and Doulton's art director, Charles Noke, for all his forethought, can have had little realization when he introduced the series just how big and famous it was to become.

George Tinworth may have been the first of the great modelers to have worked on figurines for Royal Doulton but he certainly wasn't the last. In the early years Charles Noke commissioned figures from a number of independent sculptors, but in 1920 Leslie Harradine, one of Doulton's most prolific modelers for more than thirty years, joined the company. Between the 1950’s and 1970’s nearly all the figures were produced by either Margaret (Peggy) Davies, who specialized in pretty ladies or Mary Nicholl, who contributed a wide range of character figures.   The high standard has been maintained by the many talented modelers who continue to delight us with their creations.