“It is wonderful, is it not? That on that small pivot turns the fortunes of such multitudes of men, women and children in so many parts of the world; that such industry and so many fine faculties should be brought out and exercised by so small a thing as a button”, Charles Dickens wrote in an article published in Household Words, a weekly journal he conducted.

 

Button, n: Pronunciation :[bʌt(ə)n]. Etymology: from Old French boton 

 

"A knob or stud of metal or other material sewn by a shank or neck to articles of dress, usually for the purpose of fastening one part of the dress to another by passing through a button-hole, but often merely for ornament" (OED). There are many other meanings of the word, in anatomy for instance. In the eighteenth century, this word was interestingly used to describe “a type of anything of very small value” (OED), for example a buckle, a shackle or a bud. However, the following webpage will focus on the making and the use of the button as a means of fastening garments.  The concept of buttons dates back to Ancient history. From the fourteenth century onwards, buttons were used as ornaments, in a nonutilitarian way. But they really acquired importance for the British trade, industry and fashion, in the eighteenth century, which was, as it were, the golden age of buttons. Interestingly, buttons were much more meaningful at that time: they could be decent, indecent or even scandalous. As such, the symbolism of the button, especially in literature, will also be evoked.     

 

 

The Button Industry

 

In the middle of the 18th century, Matthew Boulton, the English manufacturer and partner of James Watt, introduced the bright, costly, cut-steel button, which was made by attaching polished steel facets to a steel blank. The following button, currently displayed in the jewellery section of the Albert and Victoria Museum, is made of steel. This steel button was probably owned by a gentlewoman. As evidenced by the minuscule signs of the Zodiac carved in steel, it must have required a great craftmanship. The description states that its setting may have been made by Boulton himself. 

 

   

(figure 1)  

 

Throughout the eighteenth century, the button industry became one of the most important and fast-growing in England. As popular objects, buttons began to be mass-produced and America even imported its buttons from England.

 

The making of a button

 

The making of a button depended on the material it was made of. The making of an ivory button greatly differed from the making of a cloth button for example.
Nevertheless, many eighteenth-century newspapers and handbooks describe the manufacturing of metallic buttons in a rather precise manner. Making a button firstly involved an artist who created a new pattern, which was modelled in wax. In the incipient nineteenth century, American writer Peter Parley describes the making of metallic buttons in a newspaper he owned (Peter Parley's Annual: a Christmas and New Year's present for young people). Metallic buttons were cast in moulds or cut by presses. Sand was used for the impression of the pattern by pressing the shanks, made of brass or iron wire, into the sand in the centre of each impression. The metal was then poured into the moulds. Eventually, buttons needed to be cleaned from the sand by brushing and they were “then turned in a lathe to make them perfectly circular and clean” (Parley 128).

 

Everything was done by hand until the very end of the century, when machines were introduced in manufactures. One can find an example of an early shank machine (1794) in the Science Museum of London. As its name indicates, this device, invented by Ralph Heaton, was used to make metal button shanks. During the late eighteenth century, this sort of machines typically had a wooden frame, with iron for the working parts. 

 

A tutorial found on Youtube explains how cloth buttons were made in the 18^th and 19^th century: https://youtu.be/HlIf_-WVD-k

Working conditions

 

The button industry mostly employed women and children who worked at home or in workshops in the first half of the century. Their work provided an additional income to the earnings of the father, who often worked as an agricultural labourer. Joyce Brunette states that in Dorset “the industry employed 4000 women and children near the town of Shaftesbury in 1793. In 1812, a woman could earn between 6s. and 12s. a week making buttons”. In this same county, children started to work in this industry at the age of six and they were even allowed to make buttons between school lessons. The earnings of women and children depended on their skills and the number of buttons they could produce weekly (ibid).

 

Button-making could have serious consequences on health: making gold buttons involved mercury which evaporated “inflecting very serious effects on the health of the workman, owing to their inhaling large quantities of mercury” (Parley 130). In 1851, Dickens describes the process of making a button in the eighteenth century in the following words, which clearly prove that it was a female business: “Those buttons were covered by women, and by the slow process of the needle. Women and girls sat round tables, in a cosey way, having no machinery to manage; and there was no clatter, or grinding, or stamping of machinery to prevent their gossiping as much as they liked. Before, the workwomen lay moulds of horn or wood, of various shapes, but most commonly round, and always with a hole in the middle. These moulds were covered with gold or silver thread, or with sewing silk, by means of the needle.” 
 

 

By the late eighteenth century, buttons began to be made in factories. Workers would then toil either in textile factories or at home.  

 

Button-makers and their families

 

Working in the button-industry was a common way to earn a living for numerous families in England. As a consequence, many revindications were started. They aimed at promoting the use of various materials such as horn, raw-sick and mohair-yarn. The lives of thousands of people depended on it. The so-called “Horn-Button Makers” declare in the following “Answer to their petition” that “there are several hundred persons that have no other trade but horn-button to depend on, and must starve if the same is prohibited”. They also tackle the issue of the mecanisation of button-making, which has not yet affected the manufacturing of horn buttons, still using “moulds and presses”.

 

(figure 2)  

 

The “Reasons humbly offered by the taylors, button-sellers, button-makers, throwsters, twisters, dyers, spinners and winders, &c. for explaining and amending an act made the eighth of Her late Majesty, entituled, An act for employing the manufacturers, by encouraging the consumption of raw-silk and mohair-yarn” (which can be read here: http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5rcDT9) also explain that the materials buttons were made of had a direct influence on the lives of thousands of families: ‘the wearing of buttons made of threds of cloth, druggets and other stuffs, extreamly lessen the consumption of those made of gold, silver, thread, hair and mohair, and thereby, if not remedied, will deprive at least fifty thousand poor families of their bread’ the document states. 

 

(figure 3)

 

 Button-making in Birmingham

 

The poem hereunder thus shows that the “Birmingham button-maker” was a stock character. It embodied the simple, ordinary, modest working man with trivial concerns, like getting a maid with child. 

 

(figure 4)
 

 

The button, a symbol of the new trade

The button is a symbol of the transition from a traditional to a modern economy. By 1845, the proto-industry had taken place in England. This meant some farmers had to work home after their daily rural labour in order to increase their income. Button-making, along with other crafts like spinning, not only altered the rhythm and pace of rural life, but also connected villagers to market networks.

 
In the middle of the century, when the transition towards an industrial society was over, people’s daily life had changed, and their standard of living had improved. Therefore, a rise in consumerism appeared and shopping became an important part of the everyday life. As a consequence of this incipient globalisation, British buttons also went global. Their making and selling involved the British colonies: the white pearl buttons were made of shells from the West Indies for instance. English buttons expanded worldwide and began to be exported to British North America and Scotland. According to The Scots magazine, 1739-1803; Edinburgh Vol. 29,  (Apr 1767): 219-219 : “The most proper goods now in demand here are silk stockings, white superfine cloth, nankeens, drugs, spices, laced hats, muslins, china ware, repeating watches, necklaces, buttons, buckles in paste etc.”

 

Unfortunately, many buttons industries, such as the Dorset industry, did not survive the introduction of the machine-made linen button in 1851 (Brunette) and the number of people employed throughout the country greatly decreased in the nineteenth century. Fortunes have been won and fortunes have been lost in the button industry and trade.

     

 

 Buttons and 18th-century fashion

 

The word button (bouton) comes from French and, indeed, it was the court of Louis XIV that made the button an object of fashion. Trendy buttons were made of metal, jewels, and embroidered cloth. Some of them were real works of art and all Europe began to copy them. While French buttons often depicted scenes of romance, English buttons tended to display scenes of country life. They were often large because they needed to be visible.

 

Various materials 

 

-  Metal: buttons could be made of noble metals such as gold and silver - especially at the end of the century - but other metals like steel or pewter were also used. Metallic buttons were mostly sewed on military clothing whereas thread and fabric buttons covered civilian clothes. Brass has been used to manufacture more buttons than any other material and the brass button industry peaked between 1820 and 1850. 

 

-  Bone: “Bone buttons were often constructed in the home during the 17th and 18th centuries. Usually made of cow or pig bone, the raw material is soaked or steamed to soften. It is then separated into sheets (thickness of the desired button), and a circular saw is used to cut out and remove the button blanks. These are polished, and holes are drilled into the body to allow sewing onto garments.” (Marcel, Sarah Elizabeth). Bone was used as a substitute for ivory, which was too expensive.    

 

-  Ivory: Ivory buttons were very costly and, as such, they were an evidence of the owner’s wealth. During the 19^th century, ivory was replaced by celluloid, a much less expensive synthetic material. The button below is made of ivory and metal. It represents a picturesque, pastoral scene: a blurred immemorial landscape, a shed, a soldier resting. This artistic, extremely precise work reminds of pastoral paintings by Watteau or Rubens.
 

(figure 5)

- Shell: In the 18^th century, shell buttons were exclusively worn by men. When mechanisation took place, mollusc shells, in particular pearl shells, began to be used in quantity for button making. The shells of oysters, trochus nicolicus and pinctada margaritifera were first manufactured. They were imported from South Pacific, Australia, Malaysia and the Americas. By 1890, the shells of mussels began to be used by the American manufacturer John F. Boepple because, although they were less iridescent than oyster shells for example, they were more abundant and could be easily found along the Mississippi river. Making shell buttons was Birmingham’s specialty. It required a very skilful craftsmanship.

 

-  Cloth: “Cloth does not often survive burial, but the metal or bone structural elements of these buttons will do so. Fabric was either stretched over metal/bone hoops or thread was woven around these bases in a lace-like manner” (Marcel, Sarah Elizabeth). By 1830, fabric buttons were made mechanically.  

 

-  Horn: such buttons were a pre-colonial tradition. Horn buttons were not manufactured by engines but, according to the Horn-button makers – answer to their petition, by “moulds and presses which make not above one or two buttons at time”. Those buttons were patented in 1830. 

 

Use of the button

 

Every piece of clothing was extremely codified according to one’s profession and the time of the day. The location and material of the buttons sewed on waistcoats, uniform or gowns, are thus very precise. 

 

a)      Male garment

 

Buttons were of the utmost importance in male garment because any other kind of male jewellery was generally frowned upon. Buttons, usually made of silver, were thus used in extravagant number to display one’s wealth. Generally speaking, the wearing of buttons was more of a male concern.  They were sewed on trousers, waistcoats, jackets and sleeves. Almost every piece of clothing was ornated with large buttons. See various buttons on waistcoats in the wikipage http://eighteenthcenturylit.pbworks.com/w/page/89630270/Waistcoat. 

 

The Observer (1829): “At balls, the waistcoats are in great variety. They have generally metal buttons. […] Sometimes, silk waistcoats have buttons of polished steel. When the waistcoat is of velvet, then the buttons are gold. […] In equestrian dress, for the morning, there are seen a great number of blue trock coats, with buttons of wrought metals, and a velvet case.”

The Edinburgh magazine (Jan 1762): “Blue Manchester velvets, with gold cords, or rich button-holes, are generally the uniform of bam-bailiffs, slight-of-hand men, and money-dropper.”

 

b)      Female garment

 

Although men tended to display more buttons than women, the role of this item in female garment is not to be underestimated. Many primary sources evoke buttons in women's clothing. The diktats of fashion were very precise and subject to change according to the seasons.

 

“Explanation of the prints of fashion”. La Belle Assemblée: or court and fashionable magazine; (august 1812): “Riding costume. Made of ladies habit cloth, of Maria Louisa blue, trimmed down each side of the front with Spanish buttons, the waist rather long with three small buttons on the hips; a short jacket full behind, the front habit fashion with small buttons up to the neck, and a row of small buttons on each side of the neck”.  

 

Social-classes  

 

English button makers pioneered the mass production of buttons. By perfecting stamping, moulding and casting technologies, they made buttons accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy. As a mass object, the button became a means to guess the social origin of its wearer. Given that it was particularly visible it was used to show one’s wealth. “Buttons, like gloves, feathers and hats, were often used as a vehicle to convey evolving social, political and cultural values because they were easily replaceable and renewable. In this context, buttons were often seen as little jewels: they were “old luxury” items destined for high-ranking people. A garment enriched by rows of precious buttons was a way to exhibit one’s social status” (De Munck, Lyna). 

 

La Belle Assemblée: or court and fashionable magazine, provides us with interesting pieces of information concerning the wearing of buttons by noblewomen at the very end of the century. A look at the "Explanation of the Prints of Fashion" that the magazine published informs us that fashionable gowns were often fastened at the back by a series of ribbons (which were also abundantly used in women's attire:  http://eighteenthcenturylit.pbworks.com/w/page/121716531/Ribbons) and buttons. The latter could be removed and replaced by other buttons according to the changes in fashion. Having one’s buttons stolen - which often occurred - was a convenient excuse to buy new costly buttons.

The social use of the button followed a rather simple algorithm: the richer the man, the more sophisticated his buttons. In 1775, St James’ Chronicle comments on the attire of Louis XVI of France, writing that“The button of the King of France's hat is said to be composed of the richest diamond in his profession”. 

(figure 6)

 

 

  The Symbolism of the Button

 

The button was an ordinary item. Nevertheless, its appearance or size could be interpreted in many a way. Although eighteenth-century buttons used to be larger than those we know, oversized buttons were frequently perceived as obscene by one's contemporary. In 1783, the Duchess of Devonshire thus described the very large buttons of the Duc of Chartres’s waistcoat as “very indecent buttons, which my sister very near died of”. Similarly, a misplaced button could be perceived as scandalous. An anecdote relates that, in 1788, a clergyman who was wearing a button on his hat was judged most indecent by his contemporaries and was censured. He defended himself in the following words, published in The Town and country Magazine (a journal that related tales of scandals and affairs of the eighteenth-century English upper-classes): 

 

“If pure the heart, what’s outside put on

Does no signify a button.”

 

This clergyman's final pun is remarkable because it refers to the meaning of the button as "something of very small value", even though it is also capable of triggering scandals. 

 

(figure 7)  

 

There are various occurrences of the word “button” in the texts we studied, amongst which were the works of Cleland and Sterne. Both use the button as an implicit metaphor to reinforce the novel’s salacity.

 

In Cleland’s Fanny Hill

 

Characters keep unbuttoning all the time: the button and the button-hole (i.e ‘The hole or slit through which a button passes.’, OED) become a symbol of bawdiness in two different senses.

 

The first meaning is rather clear: unbuttoning means taking one’s cloths off to be prepared to perform the sexual act as the following sentence expresses: “the young fellow standing sideway by her, she, with the greatest effrontery imaginable, unbuttons his breeches, and removing his shirt, draws out his affair” (Cleland 26). Buttoning, on the contrary, is a synonym for regaining self-control: “When our mutual trance was a little over […] he was readjusting, and buttoning-up” (Cleland, 76). Moreover, buttons and button-holes also symbolise sexual organs: the button becomes a symbol of the penis while the button-hole is clearly a metaphor of the vagina, which the reader cannot miss. Let us here quote the clause “playing as it were with his buttons, which were bursting ripe from the active force within” (Cleland 73) where the word “buttons” unmistakably stands for male genitals.

 

Cleland’s Fanny Hill thus plays on the various symbols of the button and, doing so, emphasises the role of this tiny, seemingly insignificant object in the eighteenth-century literature.   

 

 In Sterne’s Tristram Shandy

 

In Tristram Shandy, the fastening of buttons becomes a symbol of the sexual act: “My father followed Susannah with his night-gown across his arm, with nothing more than his breeches on, fastened, through haste, with but a single button, and that button, through haste, thrust only half into the buttonhole” (Sterne 235) Sterne’s bawdy metaphors are highly relevant. By means of the word “button-hole” - which is again a metaphor of the female vagina - he suggests something to the reader and even laughs at him for having a salacious mind. Sterne’s double-entendres, which are even clearer than Cleland’s, demonstrate that the bawdy symbolism of the button was mainstream at that century. There is no need for further explanation: “Button-holes! there is something lively in the very idea of 'em - and trust me, when I get amongst 'em - you gentry with great beards - look as grave as you will - I'll make merry work with my button-holes - I shall have 'em all to myself - 'tis a maiden subject - I shall run foul of no man's wisdom or fine sayings in it.” (Sterne 236)  

 

Sterne’s digression became emblematic… to such an extent that the renowned publisher Oxford World’s Classics chose to display buttons in button-holes on the front cover of the novel! (see the following link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opinions-Tristram-Shandy-Gentleman-Classics/dp/0199532893)

 

 

Conclusion:

 

“There seems to be a hidden treasure couched within this magic circle, known only to a few who extract prodigious fortunes out of this useful little article, whilst a far greater number submit to the statute of bankruptcy” (Sherwood). The button in the eighteenth century was not an insignificant object which everybody possessed. It could be a beautiful and costly ornament as well as a symbol of the time's morality. Most of all, it was a key item for the flourishing British industry and trade and on its manufacturing depended the lives of thousands of people. Whereas the sentence “it is not worth a button” was commonplace at the time to express that anything was perfectly indifferent or trifling, this object, on the contrary, was worth its weight in gold.  

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Primary sources: 

 

Unknown. The Case of the clock-makers, watch-makers, button-makers, and divers others, whose livelihoods intirely depend upon working on brass-plates, called black and bright latten. N.p., [17??]. The Making of the Modern World, http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5rcHP2. Web. 30 Jan. 2018.

--> This document was very illuminating and helped me look deeper into statistics of the button industry as I understood that thousands of people made a living of their craft. I did not suspect it before starting my research. 

 

Unknown. Reasons humbly offered by the taylors, button-sellers, button-makers, throwsters, twisters, dyers, spinners and winders, &c. for explaining and amending an act made the eighth of Her Late Majesty, entituled, An act for employing the manufacturers, by encouraging the consumption of raw-silk and mohair-yarn. N.p., [1718]. The Making of the Modern World, http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5rcDT9. Web. 30 Jan. 2018. 

--> The second document was very similar to the first one and, indeed, I found many petitions like this one. This was rather surprising as I first thought I would find more material about button-making, but what mostly came out at first was documents concerned with social matters. 

 

Sherwood, Neely and Jones. "Topographical and commercial history of Birmingham". The Tradesman: or, Commercial Magazine. London: jan 1810: 45-50.  

--> As I found out that Birmingham was, as it were, the capital of buttons, I wanted to explore the story of the city. This document was about statistics but, as it happens, it also dealt with demographical and industrial issues, so that I found many details about button-making (and the daily life of button-makers) in Birmingham. 

 

Unknown. The Scots magazine, 1739-1803; Edinburgh: Apr 1767: 219-219. https://search.proquest.com/publication/publications_1716?accountid=14888. Web. 28 Dec. 2017.

--> I came across this document by chance and as I read it, I realised buttons were linked with an incipient globalisation and I thought I might explore this aspect - which I did. 

 

Ruddiman, Walter, Jr. "The History of Male Fashions". The Edinburgh magazine. Edinburgh: Jan 1762: 38-39. 

--> I found this source entertaining because it clearly showed that fashion was a male concern as well. The magazine thus had various columns full of details concerning the wearing of wigs, frocks, even walking sticks ! As for buttons, they were evoked in most paragraphs. Since I did not want to display too many images, I chose not to show that type of engravings in my wiki but they can be found really easily on British Periodicals.

 

Unknown. "Additional Novelties in Gentlemen's Dressing, for April" The Observer, 1791- 1900; London: Apr 6, 1829. Web. 9 Jan. 2018.

--> The well-known magazine The Observer was created in 1791 and its first issues provided interesting engravings and descriptions of male garments as well. 

 

Unknown. “Explanation of the prints of fashion”. La Belle Assemblée: or court and fashionable magazine, June, 1813. British Periodicals. Web. 23 November 2017.

--> I came across many issues of this magazine, which was, as its French title indicates, was addressed to noble people. Female garments were illustrated and described really precisely and I think this magazine was a reference in the field. Digging into various issues of the same year, I found out that buttons were often replaced. 

 

Duchess of Devonshire. The Correspondence of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. N.P.: John Murray. 1955.

--> I found this correspondence really helping insofar as it gave me information about the time's morality. I could not imagine how significant the buttons were before reading these letters. 

 

Cleland, John. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. 1748-1749. Oxford et al.: Oxford UP, 1985. Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. 1759. London et al.: Penguin Books, 2003.  

--> First, I came up with an idea for my wiki topic, then I read Fanny Hill. It was really helping since the word "button" kept appearing throughout the novel, which seemed quite telling. So, I thought this theme might be a good one. 

 

Sterne, Laurence. The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. 1759. Oxford: Oxford UP. 2009.

--> As I was doing my research, I read Tristram Shandy for the seminar and, again, I was very astonished to see that buttons were a matter of importance in this novel as well. Comparing the two novels, I came up with my third part, "The Symbolism of the Button". 

 

Secondary sources:

 

Dickens, Charles. What there is in a button. Household Words no 107. 1852.

 

“Button.” Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. N.D.: 10 Nov. 2017.

 

Parley, Peter. "Manufacture of Buttons." Peter Parley's Annual: a Christmas and New Year's present for young people, n.d., p. 126+. 19th Century UK

Periodicals, http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5sQ9D7. Web. 1 Feb. 2018.

 

Llewellyn-Jones, John. A Brief History, the Uses and Production of Shell Buttons. 2003. The British Shell Collectors Club. 2015.

 

Bert de Munck, Dries Lyna. Concepts of value in European material culture, 1500-1900. Routledge. N.D: 2015: 180.

 

Upton, Chris. “Button making has returned to its roots” in The Birmingham Post. Birmingham: 2014. Web.

 

Marcel, Sarah Elizabeth. Buttoning Down the Past: A Look at Buttons as Indicators of Chronology and Material Culture, in University of Tennessee Honors Thesis Projects. 1994.

 

Brunette, Joyce. Gender, Work and Wages in Industrial Revolution Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 2011.   Pinchbeck, Ivy. Women Workers in the Industrial Revolution. N.P.: Routledge. 2014.   

 

Brophy, James. “The End of the Economic Old Order: The Great Transition”, 1750–1860 ed. Helmut Walser Smith Print in The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History. Oxford: 2011.

Images:

 

Figure 1: Josiah Wedgwood. Button with the signs of the Zodiac. England, 1780-1800. The Victoria and Albert Museum. 2018

 

Figure 2: Unknown. The horn-button makers reply, to the answer to their petition. N.p., [1704?]. The Making of the Modern World, http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5rcCn6. Web. 30 Jan. 2018.

 

Figure 3: Unknown. Reasons humbly offered by the taylors, button-sellers, button-makers, throwsters, twisters, dyers, spinners and winders, &c. for explaining and amending an act made the eighth of Her late Majesty, entituled, An act for employing the manufacturers, by encouraging the consumption of raw-silk and mohair-yarn. N.p., [1718]. The Making of the Modern World, http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/tinyurl/5rcDT9. Web. 6 Mar. 2018.

 

Figure 4: Unknown. The Birmingham Button Maker. N.p, [17??] The Making of the Modern World. http://0-tinyurl.galegroup.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/. Web. 23 Nov. 2017.

 

Figure 5: Unknown. Button. France, 1775. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org. http://0-library.artstor.org.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/asset/SS7731421_7731421_11445923. Web. 30 Jan 2018.

 

Figure 6: Unknown. "News." St. James's Chronicle or the British Evening Post, September 15, 1775 - September 19, 1775. 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection, Web. Gale. 23 Nov. 2017

 

Figure 7: J, M. "A Glergyman being Censured for Wearing a Button in His Hat, Occasioned the Following." The Town and Country Magazine, Or, Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment, no. 20, 1788, pp. 191, British Periodicals, http://0-search.proquest.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/docview/6355919?accountid=14888. Web. 23 November 2017.