From Ken Sequin’s Badge Collection
From hundreds in his magnificent collection, Ken Sequin kindly selected badges 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
Such an interesting slice of social history displayed by these badges. An amazing collection in great condition considering their age.
A fascinating collection. My family supported John Groom’s Crippleage for many years. Since 1919 when my mother had polio in fact. When they stopped using the word ‘cripple’ and adopted a more PC title, we stopped supporting them.
What a wonderful collection and don’t suppose there’s many of those badges still around tucked at the back of a drawer somewhere. I didn’t collect badges, but I did collect Cheese Labels (6 to a box) and still have my collection in what became a rather fat exercise book with so many sets of 6 stuck onto its pages.
Some total beauts there.
Vote for Crooks, hoho.
What a fascinating collection to have, a real slice of social history in London. Thanks for sharing these.
“Vote for Crooks” — You can’t imagine the restraint I am showing right now.
(pause) I love the photo of the football team encased in a badge. Such stalwart young men,
preserved forever. I am imagining the fans of the team, proudly wearing their badges. I recently found an old cache of out-of-sight-out-of-mind photos and artifacts, and included was a high school varsity letter from a long-ago boyfriend. I clutched the woolen “W” to my heart, and crowed with happiness to have it back in my life.
I am always grateful when you show us a treasured collection. One of the many highlights of
Spitalfields Life.
Many thanks, GA.
A fantastic collection of old badges. It prompted me to dig out my own. My collection is mostly from holiday trips to Devon and Cornwall but I have a few oddities – a Butlin’s badge from 1957 ( I think this was from a parental holiday before I was around), a World Cup Willie the lion badge from a sweet bar I seem to recall, an S.S. Uganda badge from a school trip ( Falkland’s hero hospital ship – now scrapped), Chipmunk crisps (who?), and a Sealink hovercraft from the Channel’s weirdest form of transport. I don’t think any are historically significant or valuable, but at least the Cadbury’s Freddo badge hasn’t shrunk…..unlike the chocolate bar!
Super collection of badges! Love the Chums badges. Shame it’s become a lost word! X
fabulous story of extraordinarily beautiful badges