Medieval Monk (herb gardening)

The medieval monk is well known for maintaining extraordinary herb gardens. Our gardening monk has his tools, herbal medicines, collecting bag and a named herb or two growing round the hem of his robe.

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens is the Victorian author of such famous books as The Christmas Carol and Little Dorrit. He was well known for his social comment on the plight of the poor of London.

Robin Hood

The most popular historic myth names Robin Hood as Robin of Lockley, Earl of Huntingdon, at the time when Richard the Lionheart was held hostage by the Regent, Prince John, at the end of the 12th century. Robin lived in Sherwood Forest as an unjustly accused outlaw, and his arch enemy was the Sherriff of Nottingham. He robbed the rich and gave to the poor and was the best archer in England. But that is just one story.

Maid Marian

The most common myths name her Marian Fitzwalter (or Fitzwater) and suggest she was a ward or young relative of Richard the Lionheart. In the Robin Hood stories, Marian's character alters depending on the literary trends of the era: from a virginal maid for Robin to pine over, to a swashbuckling adventurer in her own right, and back to a damsel again. Here she is shown with a bow and arrows, and a bouquet of woodland flowers.

Jane Austen

One of the world's most popular and beloved novelists of all time, Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote about women's lives, and the Regency society in which she lived. Choose a few of your favourite Austen books to be depicted on her portrait doll: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

Elizabeth Bennet

The heroine of Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth (Lizzy, Eliza) Bennet represents both of the titular qualities in spades. She is quick to judge Mr Darcy by appearances, while scorning him for doing the same thing about her sister, her family and herself. She is also a warm, witty and rebellious Regency woman who is fiercely loyal to those she loves, and has been portrayed marvellously in film and television by such actresses as Greer Garson, Jennifer Ehle, Keira Knightley. Our version is depicted with (painted) mud on her hem, from walking through the fields. You can request a version without the mud if you prefer.

Mr Darcy

(formal) The hero of Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice, Mr (Fitzwilliam) Darcy likewise proves to be far too proud and prejudiced upon meeting his future love and her embarrassing family, and struggles (in vain!) to forget her. He is redeemed in Elizabeth's eyes as she learns gradually that she was wrong about him, and also (so she quips) once she claps eyes on his marvellous house, Pemberley. This formal, buttoned up version of the gentleman in question may be scowling, as when he first met Elizabeth, or smiling, as when he married her.

(wet shirt) This, meanwhile, is our more popular version of Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, sporting the rather more casual "wet shirt after bathing in the Pemberley lake and/or pining in the rain" look. It may not be entirely authentic to the books, but funnily enough most people don't tend to mind... and he does match Lizzy's muddy hem...

Henry VIII and his six wives

Henry is so portly, he needed 4 legs to stay upright! Jilli blames it on Holbein who painted the mighty King’s legs out of proportion. Here we have a regal Henry (who won’t fall over) and some lovely gowned Tudor Queens. Jilli took inspiration from Holbein’s Court Portraits of the time and each Queen is shown with a feature depicting her interests and accomplishments.

Catherine of Aragon (Henry VIII's first wife)

Catherine was a Spanish princess with a fondness for hunting.  She was married to Henry for many years and gave him a daughter (future monarch Mary I), but after any miscarriages he divorced her (breaking away from the Catholic church to do so) in the hopes of siring a son elsewhere.  She and her daughter lived in isolation for many years before she died.

Anne Boleyn (Henry VIII's second wife)

Anne was a young English noblewoman with a love for music.  Henry courted her for years (while still married to Catherine of Aragon) and is said to have written “Greensleeves” in her honour.  He divorced Catherine and married Anne when she became pregnant, but was furious that her only living child was a girl (future monarch Elizabeth I).  She was executed on charged of adultery and treason.

Jane Seymour (Henry VIII's third wife)

Jane is portrayed with a little dog as in at least one of her famous portraits.  She married Henry 11 days after the execution of Anne Boleyn, and was the only one of Henry’s wives who bore him a son (future monarch Edward VI), and is generally portrayed as his “one true love”.  She died in childbirth.

Anne of Cleves (Henry VIII's fourth wife)

The only thing we know for certain about Anne of Cleves is that she did not look anything like the portrait Holbein painted of her.  Henry married the German duke’s daughter by proxy, and was horrified by how greatly his new wife’s appearance differed from the portrait he had been shown.  He referred to her as “The Flanders Mare” and refused to consummate the marriage.  Anne agreed to an anullment and was given a castle as her consolation prize.

Kathryn Howard (Henry VIII's fifth wife)

Like her cousin Anne Boleyn, Kathryn was a lady-in-waiting at court when she caught the King’s eye.  She was 19, and he was 49.  The vivacious Kathryn brought new life to the King, who called her his ‘rose without a thorn.’  A year later, charges of adultery were brought against the young Queen, and she was executed.

Katherine Parr (Henry VIII's sixth wife)

Katherine was a dignified, religious widow in her earlier thirties when she married Henry - a very different kind of woman than those who had previously attracted him.  She served as Queen Regent when Henry was campaigning in France, and served as a quiet companion for his later years - she is most famous for being the wife who outlived him.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Wearing a full medieval cloak, this Pied Piper has lots of rats scurrying about his person.

Anne Bronte

The youngest Bronte sister, Anne was the author of two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which were published under the male pseudonym “Acton Bell”.  Anee died at the age of 29, after a long illness.

Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte was the eldest of the Bronte sisters, and the most prolific novelist of the three.  Her most famous work, Jane Eyre, was originally published under the male pseudonym “Currer Bell,” but after the death of her two sisters she revealed her identity publicly, at the request of her publisher.  She married in her late thirties, and died in childbirth.

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte only wrote one novel: the ghostly and passionate Wuthering Heights, an acknowledged classic of English literature.  Like her sisters, she took a male pseudonym for her work: Ellis Bell.  She died at the age of 30, of tuberculosis.  After her death, her sister Charlotte arranged for a reprinting of Wuthering Heights, under Emily’s own name.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is the most famous playwright - and writer - of English literature.  He wrote about thirty-eight plays and 154 sonnets, a poetic form that he made his own.  There have been many speculations about whether an actor from Stratford-upon-Avon could have possibly written the plays attributed to “Shakespeare” - theories suggest all manner of other authors for those works, including Francis Bacon and even Elizabeth I!  The famous portrait image, however, continues to capture the public imagination.