Shoe, performance costume slipper

Pair of red leather shoes, part of a clown suit worn by Whimsical Walker (1851-1934), who worked as a clown in both circus and pantomime. Born Thomas Walker, he first appeared in 1865 and subsequently worked in England and America. In 1886, he appeared by royal command before Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. This outfit was Walker's best harlequin suit, and he wore it over a period of at least thirty years at Olympia as head clown, and in panto at Drury Lane.

Walker's act was popular with generations of children. In 1928 Dame Laura Knight recorded his appearance in her oil painting, Whimsical Walker and His Buffer, which shows him in this costume with his circus dog or 'buffer'. The artist and performer met and made friends in the 1920s when Walker was working at Olympia for Bertram Mills' and Carmo's circuses, and Knight helped the London Museum acquire the ensemble from Walker's widow. Walker's props were those of the traditional clown: a string of sausages, a goose, and a red-hot poker.

Red boxed leather slipper or pump.The vamp is decorated with a sharp triangle of white leather. The sole is made of polished leather, with turnshoe construction, one piece uppers. The top edge is bound with tape concealing a drawstring although the bow or tie at the end to adjust the fit is missing. No heel. The slippers have been well worn and the red colour has been touched up with dye, some of which splashed onto the white decoration.