Coconut Shy - Origins

Origins

The origins of the game are unclear, but early references to it appear in the late 1800s. It probably derives from the game of Aunt Sally, with coconuts being seen as an exotic prize in the late 19th century and into the 20th century. The National Fairground Archive holds a photograph of a coconut shy dating from 1890. The game is mentioned by H. G. Wells in his book The Invisible Man in 1897, and by E. Nesbit in The Story of the Treasure Seekers in 1899. The term is first listed in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1903.

One theory suggests the coconut shy may have originated at the annual Pleasure Fair in Kingston, Surrey in 1867. That event took place on the town's Fairfield, not far from a coconut fibre mill on the Hogsmill river. The Surrey Comet reported how "for the small sum of one penny, you could have three throws with sticks with the prospect of getting a cocoa nut...". The coconuts could have come from nearby Middle Mill that advertised in the Surrey Comet as "The Patent Cocoa Fibre Co Ltd the only cocoa nut fibre manufactory in Surrey. All descriptions of mats in cocoa nut fibre made to order wholesale". Today the only reminder of Kingston's association with coconuts is a pub in Mill Street, which was the principal route between Fairfield and Middle Mill for several centuries. Called "The Cocoanut", it is not only spelled the old way but is furthermore the only pub in Britain with that name.