James Hadley spent decades as Royal Worcester's chief modeller before setting up his own studio, and pieces bearing his hand are collected specifically for that reason rather than for the Worcester name alone. This one is "The Toff," part of a set of six known as the "Down and Outs Menu Men," figures cast as down-and-out characters from Victorian street life and put to a practical use: each wore a small tabard slung over the shoulders like a sandwich board, printed with a choice of three main courses on the front and three puddings down the back, and stood on the tables of London's better hotels and restaurants doing the job a printed menu card does today.
It's an odd bit of dining history to hold in your hand, a set of characters designed to be looked at while you decided what to eat rather than admired for their own sake, which perhaps explains why so few have survived in any complete state. This figure carries an impressed Royal Worcester back stamp along with the Victorian diamond-shaped dating lozenge.
