Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey was the first doll to be issued in the second series of famous british queens.   She would have cost the collector £33.00, ($88.90), and was issued in April 1978.

This lovely doll was, like the rest of the "Tower Treasures" series, made with porcelain head, hands and feet, which were sewn onto a stuffed kid leather body.   As is obvious from the pictures above, the doll was sumptuously dressed, and a real prize for any collector to add to their collection.

Lady Jane Grey had a reputation as one of the most learned and intelligent women in England.  She was the great grand-niece of Henry VIII, (through Elizabeth Woodville and Elysabeth of York), and daughter-in-law of John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and Duke of Northumberland.  Northumberland was keen to influence the dying Edward VI to name Jane as his successor, because she was a protestant, and would prevent Edward’s Catholic sister Mary from assuming the throne of the now Protestant England.  Jane had no wish to be Queen, or used as a pawn by her manipulative father-in-law - her reign ended after 9 days, when the authorities realized that Mary’s challenge for the throne had succeeded.  Jane was initially spared execution, but following a subsequent attempt to reclaim the throne for her, by her supporters, Mary had her beheaded.  She was just 16 or 17 years old

News

21st September 2023

 

Important Announcement

 

My dear wife, Christine, passed away on the 8th December, 2021, after 8 weeks in hospital. I was by her side, when she slipped away from me peacefully, with no pain or suffering.

 

Chris had been struggling with a slow decline in health, associated with a progressive, untreatable, and ultimately terminal lung disease, and finally succumbed to her old adversary, Pneumonia.

 

We had been friends for 55 years, together as a couple for 50 years, and married just a month short of 48 years, when she died.   

 

This website was Chris's idea, and I did all the technical stuff, to make it work.   After news of Chris's passing reached her close friends in the doll collecting world, I was deeply touched and gratified to hear their tributes to my dear wife, and I must thank them all for their kindness and support.   Ultimately, it was her doll friends that gave me the courage to continue with the website.

 

In the months before her eventual hospitalisation, Chris had outlined a number of additions and changes she wanted to make to the website, and it is my intention to honour those wishes, and to implement the changes we had considered, over the coming weeks and months.

 

I must apologise to all those who have written to us via the website, only to have your emails go unanswered.   Unfortunately, the email system had been hacked aroung the time Chris was going into hospital, and many emails must have been lost, as a result.

 

As you might imagine, I felt completely broken by Chris's loss, and it is only now, almost 22 months after her passing, that I have felt strong enough to even look at the website again.   

 

My aim is to continue with the website, and to implement Chris's aims for her many new ideas as soon as I can.   In the meantime, I have hopefully got the email system sorted out, and I will attempt to answer any enquiries as soon as I can, and to send replies with the same high degree of accuracy that a reply from Chris would have had.

 

From now on, I will be flying solo, whilst my co-pilot and guide will be soaring much higher, (though she is always in my heart, and in my thoughts).

 

My thanks to all our website visitors for your continued support

 

Dave (also known as Arthur), and Chris, (my lost love, Guinevere)

 

Christine Poulten

25th December 1949 - 8th December 2021