"Although decorating clothes with buttons had been around for a long time, it was Henry Croft, an orphan street sweeper, who seemed to take it to a whole new level, going from a bit of decoration to covering an entire jacket with pearl buttons. And he would then wear it while raising money for charity, thus giving birth to the pearly kings and queens."
"A sign at the exhibition says that the first of the Pearly societies was founded by Henry in 1875, but that would have made him just 13 years old at the time. It's quite likely that he would have been working at 13, but that he had been collecting for charity in a trademark pearly jacket for long enough to have built up a reputation big enough to form the first Pearly society - aged 13 years old - seems maybe unlikely?"
"And while details about his charity raising in his newspaper obituaries at the time of his death in 1930 vary, most agree that he had been engaged in charity collecting for around 40 years. This would put him in his 20s when he started his charity collecting. In fact, there is a record of him being crowned a Pearly King in 1883, aged 22 years old."
Decorating clothes with buttons predated the Pearly tradition, but Henry Croft transformed the practice by covering a jacket in pearl buttons and using it to raise money for charity. A claim that he founded the first Pearly society in 1875 would make him 13, which seems unlikely. Newspaper obituaries vary, but most record about forty years of charity collecting, implying he began in his twenties; a record shows he was crowned a Pearly King in 1883 at age 22. Several pearly societies now exist, continue to raise funds yearly, and remain a characterful presence at London events. A photo exhibition marks the roughly 150th anniversary at St Martin in the Fields, which has hosted a Pearlies Harvest Festival since 1940.
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