Events
Searching for Dorset Buttons
Briefly, Dorset Buttons are woven thread buttons; yarn was wrapped around a ring of sheep’s horn originally, replaced in the 18th century with a disc of metal. The first buttons were called ‘high tops’ and ‘dorset knobs’, and by 1658 over 31 different styles of buttons were being made, including the distinctive ‘cartwheel’ design.
The Dorset Button Industry was started in Shaftesbury in the 1620’s by Abraham Case and became a major cottage industry throughout Dorset creating employment and income for many families. By the 1780’s around 4000 women and children were involved in the industry.
It is said that Abraham Case made the high top buttons on the waistcoat worn by Charles I at his execution in 1649.
The industry collapsed suddenly with the introduction of a button making machine in the 1850’s, displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851. This caused mass unemployment and extreme hardship and the government funded the emigration of hundreds of families to Australia and Canada.
The story of Dorset Buttons represents not only revolutionary industrial processes, but significant events in social history.
The Dorset museums have collections, as does the Museum of London and the V&A. One of the aims of Shaftesbury Abbey Museum is to create a directory of all organisations and individuals that hold collections of Dorset Buttons.
If you have, or know of, a collection, please contact Annabel Turner by following the links.