TWENTY five years ago this month one of Basingstoke’s most colourful characters died at the age of 79. He was Patrick Collins, the local Pearly King who, with his wife, had moved to the town in 1940 during the Second World War.

He had become a Pearly King in 1934, his wife automatically becoming Pearly Queen at the same time. Upon settling down in Basingstoke they began to collect funds for various charities, and they became familiar figures in the town with their outfits with pearl buttons all over them.

On Mr Collins’s coat alone there were some 20,000 of them, while his cap had about 1,800 buttons. They all weighed several pounds in total and Mr Collins, later known as “Sammy”, and his wife lived at 42 Chapel Street, in an old 17th century terraced house which was demolished during the Town Development Scheme in the late 1960s.

He worked for Hampshire Dairies, at 4 Vyne Road, as a milkman (a site which is in the process of being made into flats at the rear of the Great Western Hotel). For Sammy this was ideal, for he could walk home within minutes and prepare for his next venture to collect money for needy causes.

When the first carnival week began in 1956 to collect funds for a community centre in the town, he volunteered to help with the project and, with his collections and many other helpers, the Carnival Hall was built and opened in 1964. Alas, after 40 years its construction could now be destruction, unless further funds are found to save it from being pulled down.

Mrs Collins died in 1959 and her death led her husband to seek out someone else to help him in his charity work. He eventually hired a young girl to act as a Pearly Princess (pictured right, with Mr Collins) and she accompanied him in his work. Later on, another girl was hired when the first one had to leave.

In the later years of his life he went to live at Balmoral Court in Basingstoke and it was there that he died on March 16, 1978. Six days later he was given a great send off by Pearly Kings, Queens, and Princesses, from various parts of the country, who walked by the hearse along Church Street and into Church Square for the service at St Michael’s Church. Representatives from Stevenage, Gosport, Barnet, Crystal Palace, and Westminster, attended the funeral, as well as many people from the local area whom had become great friends of Mr Collins.

Pearlies, as they were originally known, were elected by street traders in London to safeguard their rights from interlopers and bullies during their work as costermongers. (Costermongers were often known as barrow-boys – people who sold items such as fruit, vegetables, and fish.) In later years the Pearlies devoted their efforts to collecting and working for charities. There are many such groups of Pearly Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses in the country, all of whom carry out similar work to fund much-needed local and national organisations who much appreciate their voluntary help.