The Absent-Minded Beggar souvenir items[between 1904 and 1913]engBEIN Richards Kipling 2853: From the David Alan Richards Collection of Rudyard Kipling.Title devised by cataloger.A collection of ceramic ware including among others jugs, pitchers, plates, cups, teapots, and vases.Each item is decorated with holographic lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem, The Absent-minded Beggar, as well as an illustration, A Gentleman in Kharki, by Richard Caton Woodville.The items were made and sold to aid the charity often known as The Absent-Minded Beggar Fund which was part of a campaign by the London newspaper, The Daily Mail, to raise money for British soldiers fighting in the South African War of 1899-1902.