Henry Croft

Interesting use of the word 'anointed'!

I know we speak of kings and queens being anointed; Wikipedia describes how our own dear Queen was "anointed with holy oil, invested with robes and regalia, and crowned Queen ... " at her Coronation ceremony. But I don't know if pearly kings and queens are even crowned, let alone anointed.

Henry Croft was born in St. Pancras Workhouse in 1861. He began wearing a pearly suit to raise money for charity while still in his teens. Where he got the idea from is something of a mystery, but the custom does seem to have had some history in the capital – particularly among costermongers (street sellers of fruit and vegetables). Henry Croft was never a costermonger however; from around 1876 he worked as a roadsweeper.

By 1880, Croft's suits were completely covered in white buttons. He is believed to have made at least seven. In 1907 he was was presented to Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at the Horse of the Year Show at Olympia. By 1911, each of London's 28 metropolitan boroughs had its own pearly king, pearly queen, and pearly family, often members of the local costermonger community.

Croft married Lily Newton in 1892, and they had twelve children. Their eldest son was killed in the First World War. Henry died from lung cancer in 1930, in the same workhouse that he had been born in 68 years earlier. His funeral cortège included a horse–drawn hearse, musicians, 400 pearly kings and queens, and representatives from the charities that he had supported. The event was filmed by Pathé News.

Ian Dury asked for the same hearse to be used at his funeral in 2000.

A life–sized marble statue of Croft, wearing a "smother" pearly tail–coat with top hat and cane, was erected at his burial site in 1934. After being vandalised several times, the statue was restored and removed to the crypt of St. Martin–in–the–Fields in 2002, where the Original Pearly Kings and Queens Society has held its harvest festival since 1956.

Wikipedia doesn't mention coronation, anointing or any kind of oil on its Henry Croft page.