Meet Doreen Golding, Pearly Queen of Bow Bells and Old Kent Road
- Written byJ Tilley
- Published date 09 April 2024
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Making More Mischief: Folk Costume in Britain is the highly anticipated sequel to Compton Verney’s 2023 exhibition, Making Mischief: Folk Costume in Britain, which was the first of its kind to explore the pivotal role of costume in folk customs thriving across Britain today and the rich tapestry of people bringing them to life. Now, in collaboration with the Museum of British Folklore, and as part of the same project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, LCF, UAL’s Making More Mischief builds on this narrative by zooming in with a London lens to further explore class, sexuality, ethnicity and identity to challenge preconceived ideas that seasonal folk cultures and customs need to be fixed, nostalgic or predominantly rural.
"Folk costume is widely misinterpreted. Folk costume is non-conformist and can be subversive; outfits often involve creative input from the wearer and many are worn performatively. Folk costumes are deeply redolent with individual meanings, personal and group identities. They are usually local - although some, like Morris, are spread across the UK but have their own distinctive costumes." - Amy De La Haye, Co-Curator
We're taking a closer look at some of the folk costume exhibited within the exhibition, starting with London’s iconic 'Pearlies.’ Pearly Kings and Queens have been recognised by their distinctive suits and accessories covered with mother-of-pearl buttons, since the mid to late 1870s. They have been an iconic part of London with many boroughs now having their own established Pearly royal family. As part of the Making More Mischief exhibition, Pearly Queen of Bow Bells and Old Kent Road, Doreen Golding, has donated outfits from the late Pearly King and Queen to be displayed. We caught up with Doreen, who came to visit Making More Mischief on the day of its opening.
What do you think of the exhibition?
Very good, it's much bigger than I expected! It's great to see all of the costumes from the moris dancers and others. I know you've all been working on this project for a long time. Obviously I was mainly interested in the Pearlies! I have to say that I'm so glad that the Pearlies costumes are on display. The two costumes on show are from the Pearly King and Queen that have passed away. They were only hanging in my wardrobe, so the fact that they're on display in an exhibition for the public to see it's wonderful, especially to keep the Pearly tradition alive.
So for people that don't really know what the 'Pearlies' are, how would you best describe them?
Well, people get mixed up because they think that if you're a Cockney, you could be a Pearly, or if you're a Pearly if you're a Cockney, but they're two different things. A Cockney is a Londoner or someone with an accent like mine. The Pearly Kings and Queens were really formed to help the poor. Our founder, Henry Croft, was a workhouse boy who went out to to sweep the streets of London at the age of 13, but that was the age that they went to work back then. A chimney sweep was about five or six, same as working in the mines. The idea with Henry Croft was that you helped your neighbours, your friends in the markets. With the market sellers, if you didn't sell your goods, you didn't eat! So you all helped each other. And the idea of the buttons originally was to draw attention to you, so the public would come over to you to sell your goods. Even the buskers put buttons on whilst they were singing and dancing. With the gentlemen, they would put a line of buttons on the side of their trousers. You've heard them say "Oh he's a flash Harry, well that's how we got the saying, for the flashy button down the side.
It was all to help for charity and the majority of our Pearly Kingdom, all in the City of London, have got medals for charity work, or have been honoured with an MBE. Pearlies are not necessarily all Londoners, they're people from all over the place. We've got the Pearly Kings and Queens in Hull, Lancashire, lots of places. They come to London and say they would like to join us sometimes and we turn around and say, "Well, do you collect for charity? Are you willing to go into a charity shop and buy an outfit and spend hundreds on buttons?"
So do you add the buttons to your jacket yourself?
Well everybody's supposed to do their own outfits but sometimes you are going to need help. I mean, I need help.
It's so intricate, isn't it. I love the writing on back as well. What sort of charity work do you do?
It's really varied. We always say we give our services free to any charity that want's our support. So we could be out collecting anywhere. March is Marie Curie with the daffodils so we were out by Westminster Central Hall collecting for them. Well whoever needs us, really. I'm with the Variety, the Children's Charity for a long time I was on committee that arranged trips for special needs children to go on different outings. It wasn't that they couldn't afford to go, but it was more gaining access to things like boats up the river and wheelchair accessibility. London Pearly Kings and Queens, I'm actually Chairman of the society and so whoever needs our help we will go and give our services for free, collect for charities. I've work with London Air Ambulance, Tower Lifeboats which is great as I came from around that way, Tower Hill. Every badge on the jacket is for a different charity that we've supported.
So is that where you're from? Is that where you grew up?
Yes before we moved out a bit, before the houses got knocked down and we got rehoused!
Where do you live now?
I live in Wanstead now.
Should we go and grab another cup of tea and a sandwich?
Yeah go on then, why not.
Opening 9 April – 22 June 2024, Tuesdays – Saturdays.
London College of Fashion,105 Carpenters Road, Stratford, E20 2AR.The exhibition is free with no need to book in advance.
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