|
The tradition of Pearly Kings and Queens started in Victorian times. Cockney costermongers elected Kings to safeguard their rights against bullies seeking to drive them from their pitches. After they were granted licenses to sell produce the custom was kept up. Their dres s is said to have sprung from the arrival of a huge cargo of the then fashionable pearl buttons from Japan in the 1880s. One coster sewed them round his wide trouser bottoms and the fashion caught on. Another theory is that Henry Croft, a keen collector for charity, found that by sewing pearl buttons onto an old frock coat he attracted a lot of attention and his collecting box filled rapidly. At first costumes were simply outlined with buttons but gradually the designs became more complicated depicting stars, moons, flowers, trees of life, eyes of god, fertility symbols etc. Each outfit can sport some 30,000 buttons and weigh up to 63 lbs or more. The suits are worn for christenings, weddings, funerals, the Coster’s Annual Harvest Festival at St. Martins in the Fields, at Epsom on Derby Day and for charity work in which the Pearlies are now so famous. |
