Snowdrop Buttons

In fact this card of 'Snowdrop' buttons was made in Birmingham, England. It was produced by a company called Buttons Ltd. It can be identified by the crossed sword trade mark which is only used by this particular company.

 In the early years of the 20th century the company who made these buttons was the leading button manufacturer in the world. The company was created in 1908 when several smaller firms amalgamated.

 The town of Birmingham is located right in the centre of England. It's location meant it was able to take advantage of the many developments of the industrial revolution and build up a strong manufacturing base. Even to this day the city is famous for its jewellery manufacturing business.

But in the middle of the 19th century it was a leading centre for button manufacture. Before the invention of machines buttons were hand-made by skilled workers. As the industrial revolution took over and people congregated together to work in factories, certain parts of the manufacturing process became automated. They used simple presses to make the buttons, which were then finished by hand. 

It was not until 1908 that a machine was created that could make cloth-covered buttons like the Snowdrop ones all in one process. The rolls of cloth were fed in one side of the machine and metal wire in another. Fully finished buttons were created by the machine, even including button holes. In fact it was even more impressive than that as card was added and the machine even stapled the buttons onto these decorative cards. 

This new machine truly revolutionized the speed of production and made this company extremely successful, selling large quantities of these buttons to many countries. Cloth buttons like these were mainly used for underwear, nightdresses and pillowcases. Finer buttons (such as Mother of Pearl) were used for dresses and blouses.

Although this firm is best known for cloth buttons, in fact they had two factories and only the smaller building made these cloth buttons. The larger factory made a variety of buttons in all sorts of materials; mother of pearl, horn, nuts, metals and eventually plastics. Huge quantities of metal buttons for all sorts of uniforms were made here, not just for the army but even for groups such as the New York fire brigade. During wartime they even made metal buttons that contained miniature maps and compasses concealed within the button.

The crossed sword mark used exclusively by Buttons Ltd. The company gradually declined in the middle of the 20th century and eventually closed. This was mainly due to the ease with which people could make the new plastic buttons that had become fashionable. It was a shame as the company had been a very good employer, with a loyal workforce. In fact they had been one of the first companies in this country to have a free pension scheme for workers, something that was very unusual in those days.