A Pearly King (feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's material worth. According to one account, the Pearlies were derived from London costermongers who sewed pearl buttons on to their clothing.

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  • A Pearly King (feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's material worth. According to one account, the Pearlies were derived from London costermongers who sewed pearl buttons on to their clothing. An orphan costermonger named Henry Croft collected any pearl buttons that had fallen off others' clothes and covered his own clothing with them. Another story claims that in the 1880s a cargo of Japanese pearl buttons was salvaged from the River Thames after the boat carrying it foundered. One of the salvagers, Henry Croft, decorated his suit, hat and stick with pearl buttons, making him the first pearly king. The Pearlies were originally elected by costermongers to safeguard their rights from rivals. Modern pearlies no longer have this role, but tend instead to devote their time to charitable activities. Each individual area of London once had a king and his 'donna' (from the Italian for woman), as their wives / queens are sometimes called -- one for each of the London boroughs, one for the City of Westminster, and one for the City of London. The clothes the Costers wore were decorated with a row of pearl buttons each the size of a penny down the outside leg seam of their trousers from the ankle to the knee, while the pocket flaps on their waistcoats and the front of their caps would be decorated in a similar fashion. Henry was fascinated by the costers' suits and decided to go one step further by decorating a whole suit of top hat and tails in pearl buttons. Henry became a great attraction wherever he went and collected pennies and halfpennies to help the orphanage where he was raised, in aid of the children there. Henry became so popular that hospitals and other organised bodies asked him collect for the deaf dumb and blind. Henry’s lifetime of charity work had begun.   Henry was unable to manage all of this work on his own and needed help badly. The help came from his friends the Costermongers of the street markets of London and so the Pearly Monarchy had begun and still continues to this present day. Many of the Costers became Pearly families. There were 28 families one for each Borough of London, one for the City Of London, and one for The City of Westminster. The succession of a Pearly is by inheritance. As London grew so did the pearly Monarchy and the work spread to many different charities that needed help. In 1975 the Original Pearly Kings and Queens Association was Re-formed and hold their meetings in St Martin-in-the-Fields. Links with the Church and the Pearlies is extremely strong. In recent times, the buttons used on new costumes for the Pearly Kings and Queens often include large numbers of imitation mother of pearl buttons, made of plastic, because real mother of pearl buttons have become much more uncommon, and prohibitively expensive. The patterns used on pearly coats, which sometimes run in families, have special meanings, among them: Horseshoe = Luck Doves = Peace Heart = Charity Anchor = Hope Cross = Faith Wheel = Coster's barrow Symbols of Playing Cards = Life is a gamble Flower Pots = Costermongers Donkey Carts = Costermongers Henry Croft's great-granddaughter is a Pearly, holding title to Somers Town.
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  • A Pearly King (feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's material worth. According to one account, the Pearlies were derived from London costermongers who sewed pearl buttons on to their clothing.
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  • Pearly Kings and Queens
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