Summary

National doll produced to represent an English man, it was given to Monica Gates, circa 1970s-1980s. The doll is wearing the dress uniform of a Yeoman Warder or Beefeater. The Yeoman Warders are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London, they are responsible for looking after any prisoners at the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels, today they also act as tour guides and are a tourist attraction in their own right. All warders are retired from the Armed Forces of Commonwealth realms and must be former senior non-commissioned officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. NCOs from the Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force are eligible to apply, but members of the Royal Navy are not, as they take an oath to the Admiralty rather than the crown. The Yeomen Warders normally wear an uniform of dark blue with red trimmings. However the uniform shown here is their dress uniform, which is used when the sovereign visits the tower, or when the warders are on duty at a state occasion. The uniform consists of a knee-length scarlet tunic, scarlet knee-breeches and stockings, a round brimmed hat called a Tudor bonnet and a white neck ruff.

The Gates collection contains 170 national dolls from 74 different countries and some correspondence relating to the acquisition of several of the dolls. The costumes of the dolls represent national costumes from the 19th Century to the 1990s. Monica Gates collected or was given these dolls between 1957 and 1990.

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs of particular countries and like many mass produced souvenirs they are often not accurate representations of a particular country or region, and may actually better reflect neighbouring counties or regions. This occurs because costumes are often stylised and simplified resulting dolls wearing generic costume elements which are common to many countries/regions. Often the fabrics and decorations used are selected to make the dolls cheap and easy to manufacture and aesthetically pleasing. This can result in the fabrics, colours and decorations of the doll's clothing having little or no reflection of the costume associated with a particular country or region they are meant to be representative of.

Physical Description

The male doll wears black shoes with red gaiters. He has a red tunic made from suede with golden ribbon around the arms, the waist and the bottom. In the middle between the waist and the bottom runs another golden ribbon. Under his tunic he has red breeches. Around his calfs are gold ribbon and one gold button on each side. Around his neck he has a ruff, made from cream coloured net. On his tunic he has at breast height a golden crown. On his head he wears a black hat with a red, white, blue ribbon. He holds a a golden staff in his right hand.

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