1-155-541 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage Images

'Rink to me only with thine eyes', 1876. The increasing popularity of roller-skates perhaps gave romantic young couples a better opportunity to be together without chaperones! In 1863 an American, James L Plimpton, patented a 4-wheeled roller-skate, the forerunner of today's skates, and it was not long before the lasting craze began in Britain. Cartoon from "Punch". (London, 18 March 1876).