Pearly kings and queens

https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/discover/six-things-you-never-knew-about-pearly-kings-queens
Costermongers
First being Henry Croft, who covered his suit in mother-of-pearl buttons, creating the first pearly ‘smother’ suit. He did this to draw attention to himself when collecting money for orphanages and hospitals and so the pearly mission to support charitable organisations was born.

A photograph of Henry Croft – described as ‘the Pearlie King of Somers Town’ – from the Strand Magazine of February 1902. The accompanying text said, ‘He has 4,900 buttons on his suit – i.e., as follows: 700 on cap, 1,500 on waistcoat, 1,500 on trousers, 700 on belt, 500 on straps (wrist); total, 4,900.’

Costermongers were market and street traders who sold fruit, vegetables, fish and other produce from a cart or stall in the street... It was a tradition for each coster community in London to elect a leader, or ‘King’ to organize them, keep the peace and stand up for their rights with authorities. Henry possibly drew on this tradition when he used the term ‘Pearly King’.

There is some debate as to whether Henry was inspired by the dress of London’s costermongers or the costumes of music hall coster-singers. Coster-singers entertained the crowds with cockney songs in the music halls. One singer, Hyram Travers performed around this time as the ‘Pearly King’ and wore ‘the handsomest and most costly suit of clothes ever seen’ (The Era, 20 Jan 1883). Perhaps Henry’s pearly suit was influenced by both groups. It was the costers, however, who embraced the style and ideology of Pearly Kings and Queens.

http://www.pearlies.org.uk/the-original-pearlies-history/

Costermongers, costard being an apple, monger being a seller. 

Costers admired style and panache and with the typical Coster cheek they imitated the wealthy West End society, who by the early 19th century had developed a fashion for wearing pearls and parading in  their finery on Sundays in the fashionable London parks – the Costers took it one step further by sewing lines of pearl flashers on their battered hand-me down waist coats, caps and working trousers and started doing their own parade – the ‘Lambeth Walk’.

https://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/25227/londons-other-monarchs-the-pearly-kings-and-queens/

When their church in the Old Kent Road was pulled down, the Pearlies moved to St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and it is here, every year, on the first Sunday in October, that the Costermongers’ Harvest Festival is held and attended by all the Pearlies, costermongers and street traders.

After the service, this happy group of people adjourn to the crypt for tea and a rousing session of ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ and ‘The Lambeth Walk’ before returning to their respective Boroughs.

Singing the Lambeth Walk w Lupino Lane

https://www.britishpathe.com/video/pearlies-open-lambeth-pub

canterbury music hall

pelham hall

http://footprintsoflondon.com/2017/03/charlie-chaplins-kennington/

Pubs figured large in Charlie’s young life. The Queen’s Head on Black Prince Road was run by his uncle and he often used to wander over to amuse his friends by mimicking a strange man who used to collect pennies in exchange looking after cabbies’ horses. Rummy Binks was an odd looking chap.  He wore trousers that were far two big for him and had an odd waddling. walk. He was easy to ridicule and was major influence on the appearance of the “little tramp”. 

But pubs were at least in part a cause of the poverty facing the young Charlie.   

Opposite what is now the Imperial War Museum there’s a pub called the Three Stags. It’s still one of the busiest in Kennington. Charlie would walk past it often but hardly ever looked in. But one day he would.  There, sitting in the corner was his father, who had split up from his mother.  He beckoned him in and for once showed genuine affection to his son.  But the sight of his father was appalling.  Charles senior, sat bloated, a drink in his hand suffering from the final stages of cirrhosis of the liver.  It was the last time the eleven year old Charlie would meet him. He would die shortly afterwards in St Thomas’s Hospital.  

(But Charles Chaplin, Senior, had once been a well paid music hall entertainer, and had appeared at most of London’s top venues, including the Canterbury on Westminster Bridge Road.  On stage he was an elegant chap in a top hat with a walking cane in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other.  He would sing songs of everyday life in his fine baritone voice.  But music halls such as the Canterbury made much of their money from selling drink.  And part of the attraction would be for audience members to mingle, drink and chat with the performers after the show.  A practice led to Chaplin Senior’s slide into alcoholism and early death at the age of 37.) 

doing the lambeth walk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O12FEKTHzlI

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gus-elen/