For more than two centuries Birmingham & the West Midlands was one of the most important button-making centres in the world. Long before mass-produced plastic fastenings became common, buttons were a vital part of clothing, uniforms and ceremonial dress, and Birmingham’s metalworking skills made it the perfect place to produce them. The city became famous for buttons made from brass, copper alloys, enamel, gilt, pearl and shell, supplying everything from everyday coats to military and royal uniforms.
The heart of the button trade lay in and around the Jewellery Quarter and Hockley, where hundreds of small workshops sat alongside larger manufactories. These streets were filled with press shops, stampers, polishers and enamellers, each specialising in a particular stage of production. The close proximity of jewellers, toolmakers and metal finishers meant that designs could be created, stamped, decorated and assembled within a few streets. As demand grew, larger factories also appeared in areas such as Aston and along streets like Portland Street and Warstone Lane, where heavier machinery could be used for mass production.
Birmingham buttons were made in a huge variety of styles and materials. Metal buttons were often stamped from sheet brass and then gilded, plated or enamelled, while shell and mother-of-pearl buttons were carefully cut and polished by hand. The city also became especially well known for uniform and livery buttons, many of which carried crests, regimental symbols or royal insignia. These were supplied to the army, navy, police forces and to the servants of wealthy households, and many survive today in collections with Birmingham makers’ names stamped on the back.
Several firms became famous within the trade. One of the best known is Firmin, which began as a button maker and went on to become one of Britain’s leading suppliers of military and ceremonial buttons, medals and insignia. Other important Birmingham names included Hammond Turner and Sons, whose products are now found in museum collections, and the large industrial concern Buttons Ltd, which was formed in the early twentieth century by merging several major manufacturers and went on to operate multiple factories across the city. These companies helped Birmingham dominate the British button market at a time when the city’s manufacturing reputation was at its height.
Although Birmingham was the heart of the British button trade, it was part of a wider manufacturing network across the West Midlands. Button making and related work also took place in towns such as Walsall, Wolverhampton and the Black Country, where metalworking skills were already well established. One of the best-known firms outside Birmingham was Jennens & Bettridge of Wolverhampton, famous for its high-quality japanned papier-mâché goods and decorative buttons, which were exported all over the world. Together these towns formed a regional industry that reinforced Birmingham’s position as the centre of button production in Britain.
James Grove & Sons of Halesowen was one of the most important button makers in the wider West Midlands. The firm specialised in military, railway and livery buttons, supplying customers across Britain and the Empire, and many surviving uniform buttons still carry the backmark “J. Grove & Sons, Halesowen.” Their success shows how Birmingham’s button industry was supported by skilled manufacturers across the Black Country and surrounding towns.
The decline of traditional clothing manufacture after the Second World War, along with overseas competition and changing fashion, gradually reduced the scale of button making in Birmingham. Many factories closed or moved, and by the late twentieth century the industry was no longer a major employer. However, it never disappeared entirely. Specialist firms connected to military and ceremonial wear still operate, continuing a direct link to the city’s button-making past, while the Jewellery Quarter remains a working district of small manufacturers, engravers and finishers whose skills grew out of the same traditions.
Today, Birmingham’s button industry lives on both in surviving businesses and in the buildings and street names of the Jewellery Quarter, where workshops once hummed with presses and polishing wheels. It is a reminder that something as small as a button played a big role in making Birmingham one of the great manufacturing cities of the world.
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