The Pearly Kings and Queens are a charitable group of Londoners. All cockneys and great fun to be around. They date back to 1875 when a young man
called Henry Croft was looking for an idea to bring attention to his charity
work.
Henry was an orphan and at age
thirteen was working as a road sweeper in north London.
He also worked in a market and was drawn to the Costermongers (market
traders) whom he found to be generous people.
He was fascinated with their clothes which were decorated with pearl
buttons that were stitched onto the seams of their bellbottom trousers,
jackets, waistcoats and caps. This was
to show their status in the market.
Henry also learned that they looked after one another during times of
sickness or need.
So impressed was he that Henry
decided he would like to help people less fortunate than himself. Whenever he was sweeping up around the market
he often found pearl buttons that had fallen off so he collected them up. Gradually he sewed them onto a suit of his
own until it was totally covered. This
is what is now called a “smother suit”.
The ones with fewer buttons stitched in various designs are called
skeleton suits.
Henry became so successful at raising
money, not only for the orphanage where he grew up, but also for hospitals and
workhouses, that he needed help. That is
when he turned to the Costermongers, many of whom became the first Pearly
Families. There were twenty-eight
families, one for each of the London Boroughs, one for the City of Westminster and one for the City of London.
Most of today’s Pearly Kings and Queens are direct descendents of those Costermongers.
The Pearly Suits
All of the suits are of dark
fabric, preferably velvet. The pattern
is laid out and the pearl buttons gradually, slowly and lovingly stitched on.
There are many designs for the
suits, which usually reflect the owner’s particular interests. For example:
·
Bells – for Bow Bells
·
Horseshoes – for luck
·
Doves – for peace
·
Hearts – for charity
·
Anchors – for hope
·
Crosses – for faith
·
Wheel – for the circle of life
·
Playing cards – life is a gamble!
·
Flower pots
and donkey carts – costermongers
The outfits have tens of thousands
of buttons on them and can weigh as much as 66lbs.
The Pearly Guild
Almost every area of London has its own “royal”
family within the Pearly Guild. A prince
or princess can only graduate to the status of King or Queen once their elders
are sure of their maturity, have knowledge of the group’s history and have a
strong commitment to the job of collecting for charity. And, of course, they can only become a pearly
king or queen if there is a vacancy.
Mostly the title goes to a descendent of the family but sometimes a
family dies out or moves away.
The Pearlies take every opportunity
to dress up and collect for charity.
They can be seen in parades, at Bank Holiday Fairs such as on Hampstead
Heath and even travel outside of London
when requested. The one day in the year
when they all try to gather for a parade is for the Lord Mayor’s Show which
occurs early in November (on a Saturday when the City is ‘closed for business’)
and wends its way through the City of London from the Mansion House taking a
circular tour and back to the Mansion House..
To learn more about the Pearlies,
visit their web site at www.pearlykingsandqueens.com
Photos provided by the Pearly Guild.
