Button Manufactory

The contents of this file were formerly in a portfolio labelled-

F4 Button Manufacture

This is the title indicated in the contemporary "Index to Correspondence & Documents," which also records that it contains material under the headings-
Gilt Button Act of Parliamt
Gilt Act proceedings &c

It is possible that these headings also appeared on the labels of the portfolio, but, unfortunately, if the portfolio was still in existence when the Matthew Boulton Papers arrived at the Assay Office in 1921, it was subsequently discarded. Under Matthew Robinson Boulton's scheme of arrangement, the file was placed in Box H. III ("Trade and Manufactures-Commercial and Technical").

The documents are now arranged under the following headings quoted above:-

Gilt Button Act of Parliament. (1-25)
White Metal Button Workers. (26)
Gilt Act Proceedings, &c. (27-36)
Tables and Memoranda. (37-43)

28-35 were kept by the Assay Office in one envelope, labelled "Buttons. Gilt and Plated. Prosecutions, 1799-1800." This grouping may represent some aspect of the original arrangement.

In the following List, unless otherwise stated, each item comprises a single sheet of paper, and the copy documents are press-copies. The summaries in quotation-marks are taken from the contemporary dockets.