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Pearly Kings and Queens
The London tradition of the Pearly Kings and Queens was started by a boy called Henry Croft. When he was 13 years old, Henry had to leave the orphanage where he had lived all his life. His first job was as a road sweeper in one of the London markets and he quickly made friends with the costermongers who were market traders. He got to know more about their way of life, their generosity and their fashion of pearl buttons sewn on the piped seams of their trousers, jackets, waistcoats and caps. This showed their status, as they worked the market stalls from day to day. The costermongers were caring and looked after each other if they were sick or in need. Henry was so fascinated by this way of life and decided he would like to help those who were more unfortunate than himself, including the children back at the orphanage where he had spent his early life. He started to collect buttons that had fallen off people’s clothes in the market. He taught himself to sew and sewed the buttons on his cap: when that was full he sewed them all over his clothes and this is how the tradition started. People liked his costume and gave him money when they saw him wearing it. Soon, some of the costmongers also made pearly suits to raise money. Henry died in 1930, and by that time he had raised over £5,000 for charity (today that would be the equivalent of about £200,00). Today, the Pearly Kings and Queens raise money for many different charities, including children's hospitals, hospices for sick people and the air ambulance