From Ken Sequin’s Badge Collection
From hundreds of badges in his magnificent collection, Ken Sequin kindly selected those for me with a local connection – and they comprise an unexpected history of the East End.
Button badges were invented in 1896, when Benjamin Whitehead of Whitehead & Hoag in New York filed a patent for a celluloid-covered metal badge, swiftly opening offices in London, Toronto & Sydney as the craze went global.
Adopted first as a means of advertising by tobacco companies, button badges were quickly exploited for political, religious and fund-raising purposes by all kinds of clubs and organisations.
Kingsland Rd Costermongers Association manufactured by E. Simons, late nineteenth century – one of the rarest badges, possibly a unique survivor
Souvenir of Dirty Dick’s in Bishopsgate, twenties or thirties
St John at Hackney Parochial School founded in 1275 is one of the oldest in the country, early twentieth century
Woolwich Arsenal Football Club, 1907
Hackney Band Club, hat badge c1873, one of the most radical Working Men’s Clubs
Boer War, 1900 – one of the very earliest button badges in this country
Reverse of previous badge, note local manufacturer
Royal Eye Hospital, Moorfields – early twentieth century
Lea Bridge Speedway Supporters’ Club – 1928-32
Dartford Pageant, 1932
Possibly the Regal Edmonton, 1934
Bethnal Green Men’s Institute, Gymnastics, Turin St, early twentieth century
Temperance and Salvation Army buttons, early twentieth century
Dockers Trade Union Badge, established 1889
A cache of badges found in an allotment shed in Walthamstow
World War II propaganda badges
Salvage. Dulwich Council
St George’s Sunday School, Weslyan Mission House, in the eighteen-nineties it took over Wilton’s Music Hall
Reverse of previous badge
WWII National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee, dog’s identity badge
World War II badges for fundraising clubs to build airplanes
WWII Fundraising club to buy a destroyer
First Labour Mayor of Poplar, Will Crooks was elected MP for Woolwich in 1902
Reverse of buttons above
Dulwich & District Defence League, a Home Front battalion established in 1915
The Mildmay Hospital in Shoreditch was named after Francis Bingham Mildmay in 1890
Early twentieth century silver badge rewarding service in hospital ‘meals on wheels’ service
Barnado’s Young Helpers’ Badge with a portrait of the founder, early twentieth century
Tilbury Seamen’s Hospital, ‘For services rendered’ – possibly thirties
John Groom’s Crippleage & Flower Girls Mission, fund-raising rosettes, c 1900
Photographs copyright © Ken Sequin
You might also like to take a look at
John Gillman’s Bus Ticket Collection
Viscountess Boudica’s Domestic Appliances
Libby Hall’s Dog Photography Collection
Clive Murphy’s Matchbox Label Collection
All of these are wonderful, but I especially like the “dog’s identity badge”. Of course Miss P’s badge says “princess”.
These are very nice, and very interesting to, they also give an important insite into social history, the message that many of them promote give a real sense of felling for the period in time, I have a Lea Bridge Speedway badge exactly the same that my mother bought when she went there following West Ham in the 1930s, I was very amused by the ‘Vote for CROOKS’ badge I think that one is very apt, and particularly relevant today in a different way, in fact I think someone should produce a copy of that one and send one to every voter in the country before EVERY General Election ! ! ! !
Thank you for these badges — they are absolutely wonderful. So much history in such a small package!
Good to see all the badges, I still have a box full I collected as a kid from jumble sales etc. Valerie
The NARPAC badges of National Air Raids Precautions Animals Committee , the umbrella body that including government reps, vets, and animal charities such as the RSPCA, PDSA and Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, were for cats as well as dogs. They were used to help reunite companion animals lost after bombing etc – and this did seem to work! However, the fact that so many of the badges still exist suggests that the complaints I have discovered around NARPAC not sending out badges quickly enough and many lying around the admin offices seem to be valid. There will be more about this in my book on animals and people on the Home Front out next year.
Very interesting.
Wonderful! “Made in Germany” was at first a negative feature, then a quality feature — now again it’s very doubtful … regrettably!
By the way: I wear my Peace Sign Badge every day!
Love & Peace
ACHIM
Greetings from Boston,
GA, another great piece. And these badges supported such a variety of causes. I guess I think of these buttons as primarily statements of political support for various candidates during election time.
I also learned another word: “Costermonger, coster, or costard is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention…. a costermonger sells from a handcart or animal-drawn cart, while a hawker carries his wares in a basket.”
Fascinating collection. I wonder though if St George’s S.S. does not stand for St George’s Sunday School. That would be the more usual meaning of the letters in this kind of context, whether Methodist or C of E.
Very interesting, it must make some of us wonder how many of our ancestors would have worn a badge like one of these or indeed one that was exactly the same.
Fascinating.
Apart from the obvious social history, I am struck by the quality of the enamel badges. Very interesting post.
Great post – thank you.
I love these badges and for something so small they are a fascinating insight into local and national history.