74 DORSET " BUTTONY." 



dissolved partnership, and in 1849 or 1850 there was on hand 

 a stock of 14,500 worth of goods and buttons ; but my 

 uncle still continued his journeys to the chief towns. Ashton's 

 buttons were becoming known everywhere, but I may state 

 that in March, 1859, I sold in the City 856 worth of wire and 

 cloth worked buttons in five days, all to be delivered within a 

 month of purchase, and that was the last extensive sale of 

 the hand-made button. My father was just upon being 

 ruined, but the lords of the manors of Bere Regis and of 

 Milborne stepped into the breach and saved him." 



In reply to an enquiry of my own, last year, the lady in 

 charge of the Mission House, Lytchett Minster, writes : 

 " The button-making is done in the cottages as a ' spare time ' 

 " employment. We have a depot in the village at which 

 " buttons are purchased, but the greater part of the business 

 " is done by post. 



" Last year (1912) we sold 38 worth, and paid for workers 

 "and material 36. 



" When Mr. Case died we bought up all the old buttons, 

 " so we have the entire stock." 



This industry will, I fear, never again reach its former f 

 importance, and the comparison of the 38 worth sold now 

 with the 10,000 worth sold when trade was at its best, is f 

 indeed a sad one for the button makers of Dorset. 



