This is one of 35 marionettes from the Tiller-Clowes troupe, one of the last Victorian marionette troupes in England. Marionette shows were a popular form of entertainment for adults in the 19th century, many of them family concerns which travelled around the country long before the advent of film and television, presenting shortened versions of London's latest popular entertainment from melodramas and pantomimes to minstrel shows and music hall. In the 18th and early 19th centuries their theatres were relatively makeshift, but after about 1860 many became quite elaborate, with walls constructed from wooden shutters, seating made from tiered planks of wood, and canvas roofs.
The figures were carved, painted, dressed and performed by members of the company. This is a pole balancer, or 'polander'. His existence in marionette troupes owes its origin to the fame of 'The Great Polander', a performer who had great success with his pole-balancing act at Sadler's Wells Theatre, in London, in the late 18th century. He is wearing his original costume, and is complicated to operate since his pole can be transferred to his hands and his feet.