I Have Not Seen Pearly Kings Or Queens In Years,

not only since I moved out here,

but moving away from Plumstead as a kid meant that I only saw them at charity events when I went back, OK I hear many of you ask, 'what is a Pearly King Or Queen?' well it is London Borough tradition that goes back aways, the Pearly royalty came about because of Henry Croft, the original Pearly King, raised in an orphanage, he began work in a market, alongside costermongers (apple sellers) who decorated their suits with buttons down the sides of the legs and on the waistcoat and cap, Henry went further, decorating a whole suit, and dressed in it to raise money for his old orphanage, His success meant other charities called on him to raise funds for them, and so he called on the costermongers to help him - and the pearly Kings and Queens were born,


a Pearly family was created in each of the London boroughs, succession is inherited, so 150 years after the birth of their founder, a new generation of Pearly Kings and Queens has been crowned,

the so-called Pearly Princes and Princesses, described by their association as 'the biggest pearly crowning for 137 years', nine members of Pearly royalty were crowned and blessed yesterday afternoon, but as well as the Pearly Kings and Queens of popular imagination, many of those who joined the gathering at the Carpenters Arms pub in the East of London were youngsters, so hopefully the charitable tradition will continue, if you want to be sure to see a Pearlie traditionally they have an annual gathering for Harvest Festival on the first Sunday in October at St Martin in the Fields in central London, collecting on the church steps for its upkeep, a real family tradition,


part of the Pearly Kings and Queens culture was the introduction of rhyming slang, the origin of the word SLANG is made from Secret language,
example: 'I am off for a ball & chalk down the Frog & Toad to the rub a dub dub for a pint of pig's with me old trouble to have a sing song round the old Joanna,' to translate it look here, there are of course many more, east to west (chest) north and south (mouth), all used to confuse the police force so that when in custody cockneys could talk with out the authorities knowing what was being said, great fun! as an aside I have heard mention that in the Second World War some prison camps were more lenient to inmates if they were married, so as each prisoner was dismissed he told the next one through the door to have a 'trouble and strife' (wife), the guards never cottoned on.