| AdminHistory | The artist Pearl Binder was born in 1904 into a Russian Jewish family living at Cheetham Hill, Manchester. She studied graphic art at evening classes at the Manchester School of Art, becoming a highly skilled illustrator, whose talents extended to many other fields, including stained glass design and print making.
Binder moved to London in the 1920s, where she worked as a freelance illustrator, and studied lithography at the Central School of Art. She flourished in the artistic circles of London post World War I, on which she honed her considerable abilities. In 1932-1935 she lived at Stable Yard, Whitechapel which inspired her lithographs of the area done at that time.
Binder employed her considerable talents as an illustrator of children's books. During her travels through Russia in the 1930s, she was inspired by Russian children's literature. Through a series of sketches, she recorded local traditions and customs, and notes of colour descriptions.
Binders lithographs stand as a permanent record to a London, now long gone, whose ambience she would have observed first hand - a city 'permanently overcast with smoke and fog'.* Later in her career, and working with the evening class in stained glass at City Lit, she designed a series of windows for the House of Lords.
In 1937, she married her second husband lawyer F. Elwyn Jones. He became Labour Party MP for Stratford from 1945-1976. They lived at Gray's Inn Square, Holborn, but both spent much time in the East End around Stratford and West Ham. He remained the MP until he became Lord Chancellor in 1976 and had to give up his seat serving as Attorney General in the Wilson and Callaghan governments. When she became Lady Chancellor, they lived in the Victoria Tower in the Houses of Parliament, Westminster (1974-1979). Her official title became Lady Elwyn Jones, although she was, and is, better known for her career as an artist.
Binder pursued many causes, especially via her deep interest in the lives and traditions of the Pearly Kings and Queens, founded in 1875. She was a dress historian having published books such as 'Muffs and Morals' and 'The Peacock's Tale'. She was captivated by how the the Pearly Kings and Queens came to be a prominent symbol of Cockney culture. The 'pearlies', as she came to call them, were famous for their vivid costumes and as active fundraisers for charity such as their work for the London Hospital in 1890s. She loved the design and history of the Pearly clothes, as spectacle and celebration. The earliest 'pearlies' came from coster backgrounds. Fascinated by the culture, she would have heard them speaking in Cockney rhyming slang, one of the tools of the trade of street sellers and market traders.
Binder became close friends with Mrs Rackley and Rosie Springfield. Lou Taylor, Pearl Binder's youngest daughter recounted how Mrs Rackley came to tea in Gray's Inn Square. She 'always came with her home-made, very large, heavy fruit cake - as that was my father's very favourite cake. Pearlies always came to our mother's July Birthday parties which were held in the garden at Gray's Inn and a good few of the coloured photos in the archive were taken there in the 1970s and 80s' [source: note to THLHLA from Lou Taylor, daughter, 1 November 2012].
Once in the House of Lords 'she took the chance to promote the Pearlies whenever and however she could. She enlisted Dad's help to get the Pearlies formally registered as a Charity - which they had never bothered to do. There were also a few rows that Dad and Mum tried to help sort out, between a few Pearly families from time to time as who was a genuine official Pearly, with the proper family heredity, and rarely, a few problems over the fact that 'real' Pearlies could only ever collect for charity and never for themselves.'
'When she heard that the Pearlies were running out of real Pearl buttons somehow she persuaded the Japanese Ambassador to arrange for a huge donation of Pearly buttons to be made and given to the Pearlies in the late 1970s.'
'Next she designed a Pearly plate and Mug for Wedgwood titles "Three Pots A Shilling' which were launched at the House of Lords in the JubileeYear, 1977. (The University of Brighton Design Archives hold these. ) A presentation was made in the House of Lords...possibly in the presence of the Queen Mother - who was a great and genuine long-time Pearly supporter'.
'It could be that this was connected to a terrific reception/party for the Pearlies at the House of Lords, in a great room in the Lord Chancellor's Residence. I regret not having taken photographs. It was huge fun - lots of singing and eating and drinking and I remember Albert Finney came and sat watching and joined in playing the spoons very expertly.'
[above quotes are from source: note to THLHLA from Lou Taylor, daughter, 1 November 2012].
Although the Pearly tradition is dying out, the 'pearlies' continue to support charitable causes. They evangelise about the heritage of the East End, including the roots of Cockney rhyming slang. Their distinctive culture formed the basis for Pearl's book 'The Pearlies: A Social Record', published in 1975. She also did lithographs of the Pearlies in the 1980s. Pearl also wrote a script and designed costumes for a musical 'Three Pots a Shilling' set in the Edwardian period. The musical was put on once but failed commercially.
Pearl Binder died in 1990 and the musical came alive again: 'We sang the key song at her funeral' [source: note to THLHLA from Lou Taylor, daughter, 1 November 2012].
Sources of information:
romanroadlondon.com/history-pearly-kings-and-queens
britishmuseum.org
sevenstories.org.uk (Seven Sisters - National Centre for Childrens' Books/Pearl Binder Archive: Collection Blog)
*Pearl Binder Artist: Spitalfields Life, 21 June, 2017
Extracts from note to THLHLA from Lou Taylor, daughter, 1 November 2012. |