Violet Buckle (Formerly Gee) is the wife of Frederick Buckle. She owns and works at a haberdashery.
Overview[]
Violet Buckle is an active member of the community, and perhaps therefore well-loved. She is kind, and very nursing. She had become a widow after her husband, Bert, died. Violet appeared in series 4 for the first time. Soon a relationship started to grow between Fred and her. At the end of the series, they are married. Violet volunteered at the local Brownies. She has also taken the motherly role in Reggie's life. In series 8, Violet ran in the local council elections and had won the seat for Poplar North.
Biography[]
Series 4[]
Violet first appeared in series 4 and was already close friends with Fred. Their relationship advanced as they became closer. He proposed to her in her shop but she later called off their engagement believing he was using her for money due to lies his daughter told her. Both still loved each other and they eventually got married.
Series 5[]
In series 5 Violet joins Trixie Franklins keep fit class, when she and Fred tried doing some aerobics at her home she bends down and can’t move her back. Dr Turner is called and she was diagnosed with a spasm and must have at least a week of rest preferably two. She protests saying she needs to mind her shop and Fred offers to work at the shop. Her “hubbydasher” doesn’t do as well as he thought he would running the shop and forgets to put the stock order in. Violet then kicks Fred out of the shop, however when a woman named Mrs. Cadman insults Fred and calls the shop the only thing she has she decides to show Mrs. Cadman the door. Afterwards, she says that Fred was a chump but was her chump, that the shop was what she had when she had no one. Fred then wishes they met earlier and had more time together but they were happy.
In S05 E08 Tessie Anselm who’s brother married Violet’s cousin is trying to arrange a wedding for her son and an Australian girl called Noelle he got pregnant. In the midst of that Sister Evangelina, a fixture of the community dies in her sleep from a massive stroke and it was Fred who found her. The wedding goes ahead and Noelle wears the wedding dress Sister Evangelina wore years before when she entered the novitiate, Noelle goes into labor just after the service and gives birth to a baby boy. Fred and Violet then attend the funeral of Sister Evangelina.
Series 6[]
In season 6, Fred's cousin suddenly dies, leaving behind her son with down syndrome. Due to him being Fred's second cousin, Violet and Fred home and look after him. Due to Reggie having down-syndrome he goes to live somewhere he can be cared for. At the end of season 6 he returns when Violet admits she misses him and sees him as one of her children. From hearing this, Fred collects Richie as a surprise for Violet. When Reggie returns he starts calling violet mum.
Series 7[]
In series 7 Fred and Violet turn their attention to event planning, their first event is a beauty pageant, Miss Poplar which is very successful. The next event Violet must plan is the Poplar picnic where Reggie comes home to pay a visit. Unfortunately this coincides with a suspected smallpox sailor in the district, Reggie is tasked with a cake but he finds the sailor named Ade and gives it to him. Fred and Violet are terrified that Reggie caught the disease but it turns out Ade had leprosy not smallpox and Reggie didn’t catch a thing. The picnic is also a great success and Tom and Barbara Hereward return to Poplar after a mission in another parish.
In S07 E06, Barbara Hereward is rushed into hospital with septicaemia caused by meningitis and Violet makes sure Fred is wrapped up warm before he goes out and asks him to give Tom her love. Despite Barbara showing signs of improvement she dies of her illness, leaving her friends and colleagues devastated and the funeral is soon after held. Reggie also pays a visit in this time and the three go to Sister Monica Joan’s birthday celebrations.
Series 8[]
In S08 E02 Violet decides to run for the local council as she considers herself one of the problem solvers of life. She puts together a manifesto that focuses on the changing landscape of Poplar as the old Poplar where everyone knew each other was changing and she wanted to make Poplar a place for the old and new. Fred wasn’t very supportive with her political aspirations, implying he wasn’t even going to vote in the elections but by the end he straightened himself out and decided to support his wife. In the next episode she actually won the election and was the only woman standing as well, she received lots of congratulations but none she valued more than the ones given to her by Reggie who asked her if she was in charge now. A side effect of Violets new position is her getting slightly big headed but it doesn’t come to much. When Phyllis Crane and sergeant Wolfe come to her requesting for the council to set up a sandpit beach outside Nonnatus House she at first brands it as ridiculous but soon agrees to it. When she cuts the ribbon to open it she remarks she feels like the queen.
In S08 E07 when Trixie Franklin and Doctor Turner try to get council support for setting up a contraceptive advice centre for unmarried women (as unmarried women had no access to the pill in 1964) she says that the council only has so much money and they can’t just spend it all on the women of the community without taking it away from men, children, handicapped and the elderly. Later on she sees how much good the clinic would do and only wishes that she could do such a thing cheaper. In S08 E08 an outbreak of whooping cough sends Reggie back to Poplar earlier than scheduled and the pair rush to greet him. But to her sadness Reggie is more depressed to be back and Fred is being more secretive, it turns out Fred is worried he has prostate cancer (it was just an infection) and Reggie is missing his girlfriend Jane. At first Violet is worried Jane is staff taking advantage but it turns out Jane is a resident who also has Downs Syndrome. In response to this Violet invites Jane to the event to raise money for a Maternity home incubator the ballroom of hope where they all dance under the mirror ball.
Series 9[]
In the 2019 Christmas special Fred leaves Violet alone just before Christmas as he has been asked to go to the Outer Hebrides by Mother Mildred (who Violet doesn’t like very much) to try out the possibility of a new branch house. This makes Violet upset but he arrives home in time for the three of them to celebrate as a family. Throughout Series 9 Violet assists the Nonnatus midwives in their goal to get the incubator for their maternity home so premature infants and mothers could stay together. Their first event is a fashion show, where as a haberdasher is her strong point, she works closely with fashion expert Trixie and put together a very successful show. After that she gets two tickets to 1965 musical film the Sound of Music, in the end Angela and May Turner win the tickets despite the attempts of Sister Monica Joan and give them to their parents. In S09 E07 they are finally successful in gaining the incubator and she makes a speech at the expense of Shelagh Turner, Violet does the unveiling with her “ceremonial sheers” as she puts it. When the council imposes a increased rent and decreased budget on the midwives Violet is able to use her position in the council to get them a five minute slot to speak to the men, Trixie is able to save Nonnatus House and get a temporary budget restoration and rent reduction.
Series 10[]
In the 2020 Christmas special the Buckles open a new newsagent shop not far from Nonnatus House, despite Fred being the shopkeeper Violet often ends up having to tell him not to bring his usual schemes and dodgy poultry into said shop. For Christmas day Fred, Violet and Reggie go to celebrate at Nonnatus house with the rest of the extended Nonnatus family.
Later on in Series ten the Buckles rent out the room above the shop to the church Lucille attends and Cyril preaches at with Cyril living on the premises. At first Violet is more business minded with the shop and does not tolerate Fred’s leniency with paying customers but by the end becomes more forgiving with customers struggling with money or homelessness after she meets a family who arrived in Poplar from St Lucia and ended up homeless called the Clarkes. In S10 E07 a baby is born with Downs Syndrome, the same condition as Reggie to a couple Fred and Violet know, Violet goes to visit Blanche Dellow the mother of the baby named Robert and holds him. She says it feels like a piece of the puzzle is complete as she never knew Reggie as a baby, she also tells Blanche that she is a very lucky woman a sentence she wouldn’t hear many times.
Series 11[]
In Series 11 Violet is asked by Victor Collins, Baron Stonham to speak at the house of commons, wanting to hear from the working people direct. Violet arranges for an open meeting to speak to the people of Poplar, Matthew Aylward attends and asks what the council plans are to keep Nonnatus House at the heart of the community and she assures him that the funds allocated will not change. Another woman asks about the meths drinker that now wander the streets often urinating on doorsteps, because of the constant demolition going on around Poplar the usual spots the meths drinkers go to are demolished. Violet is given a full 40 minutes at the House of Commons, one item is a plan of battle against the meths drinkers by use of increased police powers. Violet is disappointed with this outcome, and angry that she is taking action against people just so they can have a well kept street. When a meths drinker named Bernard is hospitalized from gangrene (his foot came off with his shoe) she brings him a box of essentials offered to pensioners. Bernard dies, Violet is disappointed in herself and Poplar and vows to do better. She suggests hostels for men suffering from alcohol addiction, where they could be treated like human beings.
In S11E07 Poplar face perhaps it’s most difficult challenge yet, just after bumping into Matthew Aylward by chance a train crashes into another one and derails causing a giant explosion in the area. Violet tries to find Fred and Reggie who are uninjured, though the same couldn’t be said for most of the other people in the area. Fred goes to do his civil defence work and Reggie wants to go with him but Violet says he should stay and look after her and let Fred do his job. They, Matthew, Miss Higgins and the Robinsons take all the injured people to Nonnatus House for treatment. The people who would normally steer them through such as crisis, Sister Julienne and Dr Turner were on the train and no one knows if they survived or not. Nonnatus House can only barely stay afloat without them, Violet considers taking herself and Reggie home but Reggie himself decides he wants to help people, so they stay and make tea for everybody. Nonnatus House is a bloody mess by the end of the night, Sister Julienne and Dr Turner are recovered alive but with injuries that may yet prove to be fatal. The next day a journalist come bursting into her shop and hopes to make the tragic accident into a fresh gossipy story for the Gazette but Violet is having none of that and says if he wants a good story he should focus on the ordinary people and their heroics that night. She recommends Reggie for an interview of which she is very proud. A true miracle happens when both Dr Turner and Sister Julienne pull through with no long lasting injuries and the Buckle family join in the welcoming them back home.
Series 12[]
In S12 E01 Fred is upset to hear of the disbandment of the civil defence corps, or the CDC and wonders what do without a uniform. Violet suggests he does odd jobs like painting her shop, after a while of deciding on paint Violet changes her mind and keeps her shop as it is. Fred becomes a lollypop man in the end, a job in a uniform that ensures peoples safety. Violet is on holiday in Jersey in S12 E02 so is absent from the episode. Reggie returns home for a visit in S12 E04 and he is feeling very tired and not his usual cheery self, this makes Fred and Violet worried, Reggie was afraid he was dying as Fred and Violet told him his mother was just so worn out she stopped. Violet worries he’s lazy which Reggie is greatly offended by, Cyril convinces him to go to a doctor. Reggie is diagnosed with an underactive thyroid, something common for people with Reggie’s condition, he needed to take a pill daily to feel better and Violet apologises for calling him lazy and accepts he can’t be happy all the time.
Her friends Cyril and Lucille are separated by country after Lucille takes leave to visit her family in Jamaica, after Cyril is assaulted by a mentally ill man Violet arranges a international call in which it turns out Lucille is working in Jamaica, Cyril goes out to visit her but comes home alone leaving their marriage in doubt. Violet sits on a meeting of the housing sub committee which Trixie and Matthew attend, Matthew is angry that the council are tearing down houses but leaving residents almost homeless having to stay in hostels and families split up and makes it known to Violet. After the meeting both Matthew and Trixie let Violet know it was nothing personal, Violet encourages Matthew to stand for council next year and tells Trixie her bridesmaids dresses were finished for their wedding just around the corner. On the big day the suits are all sent to the wrong people, this causes some extra commotion but they get to the church on time and have the wedding reception in Poplar.
Series 13[]
in series 13 Violet decides to run for mayor of the tower hamlets and Reggie are supportive even if Fred ends up “Lady Mayoress”. Violets competition is councillor and slum landlord Bill Regan who Reggie thinks is horrible. Unfortunately Fred ends up with tetanus and Violet is devastated by the thought she might lose him and angry with herself for being angry with Fred before he was taken ill. Violet decided to drop out of the running but on the encouragement of Reggie she decides to go ahead with it and Fred is able to fight off his tetanus. After his discharge Violet won’t let Fred do anything for a while and makes him eat lots of French food to widen their culinary palettes as they’d be eating differently at official dinners.
Violets first official event as mayor was a beach excursion for the community, and aside from one near drowning the event was a success. Violet decided they needed two coaches for the excursion next year. After sir Matthew Aylward got into financial trouble Violet advised him. She says she comes from a family of shopkeepers and that she never set out to work in haberdashery, she worked in millinery but when the war broke out the call for hats became less and Violet spotted the make do and mend trend and started her business. In the last episode Violet attends the mother of the year award, Reggie gets on stage with flowers, ivys and violets as they are the names of his two mothers.
Personality[]
Violet is a kind active woman. Sometimes she is quick too judge others, however, she's also open for another mindset. She and Fred balance each other out. She is understanding and caring. Her appearance is important for her, often wearing curlers at the house, and colourful dresses outside.
Relationships[]
Family[]
- Frederick Buckle (husband)
- Bert Gee (first-husband, deceased)
- Derek Gee (son)
- Reginald Jackson (ward)
- Dolly Smart (stepdaughter)
- Marlene Dooley (stepdaughter)
- Anthony Smart (step-grandson)
- Samantha Smart (step-granddaughter)
- Auntie Margaret (aunt)
- Aunt Nellie
- Uncle Percy
- Enid (cousin)
Friends[]
Trivia[]
- In S09 E05 it is revealed her birthstone is amethyst, meaning she was born in February.
Quotes[]
Coming soon...
Gallery[]
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References[]
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