By Captain JOHN E. ACLAND, F.S.A. 



TN the Dorset County Museum two sets of hand-made 

 buttons may be seen one dating back to 

 the early part of last century, from 

 Milborne S. Andrew, and the other a 

 sample of the industry carried on at the 

 present time at Lytchett Minster, Poole. 



This button making, or " buttony " as it 

 was termed locally, was an important 

 industry in the eastern parts of the county 

 in former days, until in fact it was driven out of the field by 

 the machine-made article. Through the kindness of Miss M. 

 Mansel, I am able to give some interesting facts about this 

 industry ; they were supplied to her by Mr. Samuel G. 

 Case, whose words I shall use as far as possible. 



The clothwork button was the first to be made at Shaftes- f 

 bury and neighbourhood at the beginning of the 18th century i 

 by Abraham Case. It was made on a round disk with a hole 1 

 in the centre ; the disk was made out of the horns of the 

 Dorset sheep, and a small piece of white rag was fixed on the 

 disk and then worked over ; the finer the work the higher the 

 price. 



