American Toby Jug Museum 

The Beadle character jug produced by Artone Pottery of Burslem, England, circa 1980. A beadle is an official who may usher, keep order, make reports, and assist in religious functions; or a minor official who carries out various civil, educational or ceremonial duties on the manor. The term has pre-Conquest origins in Old English, deriving from the Old English bydel, meaning herald, messenger from an authority, or preacher. In Old English it was a title given to an Anglo-Saxon officer who summoned householders to council.