Earthenware flatbacks and figurines for mantelpiece decoration were first produced in Staffordshire in the late 1830s. The earliest datable figures appear to be of Queen Victoria. Production of earthenware figures continued throughout Victoria's lifetime, but although they were still made after her death in 1901, few appear to have been produced after 1905. During their heyday, however, they were produced in vast numbers, usually modelled after prints. Since they were produced in moulds, they were relatively cheap and easy to make. They represented a wide variety of subjects but those of actors and actresses were especially popular.

This figurine has been identified as the child actor Master Betty (William Henry West Betty, 1791-1874) who made his first stage appearance at Belfast in 1803 and took London by storm in the 1804-1805 season when he appeared at Covent Garden and Drury Lane in all the major Shakespearean tragic roles. He caused an outburst of 'Bettymania' in London and ousted even the great Mrs Siddons and John Philip Kemble from favour. His success was short-lived however, and after a while living in Cambridge his return to the Covent Garden stage in the 1812-1813 season was not a success. His father squandered his money and he spent the rest of his life in obscurity. A companion figure to this (S.334-1984) has been identified as Miss Davenport.