The Step by Step Conservation of a Firmin Pattern Book
In this article Baily’s hunt button expert ‘Firebrand’ shows the skill, time and effort that went in to conserving a valuable historical resource
Firmin and Sons is a distinguished British manufacturer with origins dating back to 1677, when Thomas Firmin, a button maker, was first recorded as operating in the City of London. The business underwent several relocations and expansions under subsequent generations, with Nathaniel Firmin moving the company to the Strand in 1702 and Samuel Firmin relocating it to Somerset House, Strand, in 1760. The firm’s clientele soon included the British Royal Family, as evidenced by purchases recorded in 1754 and the granting of a Royal Warrant as button makers by King George III in 1796. Since then, Firmin and Sons has continuously held Royal Warrants for every successive British Sovereign.
The company’s operations diversified beyond buttons to encompass military regalia, badges, and accoutrements. The first factory was established at Clare Court, Drury Lane, in 1823, with later branches and factories opening in Conduit Street, Warwick Street, and St Paul’s Square, Birmingham. The head office and main factory were eventually consolidated at St. Martin’s Lane, London, in 1894. Firmin and Sons became a limited company in 1875, marking the end of direct family management but the continuation of its legacy as a prominent supplier of military and ceremonial goods.
Throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the company continued to expand, opening a branch in Portsmouth to supply the Royal Navy and relocating its operations as necessary. Its specialities included the manufacture of buttons, ornaments, gold and silver lace, embroidery, and other accoutrements for the armed forces, with a workforce comprising both showroom staff and a significant number of factory employees.
Step 1
In 1958 eighty-one Firmin pattern book ledgers were sold to an American button collector/dealer. These books had been the physical record of buttons made from about 1850 to an undetermined date. As modern methods took over Firmin felt they no longer needed or had space for them. (Photo: National Button Bulletin USA 1959)
Step 2:
They contained military, livery, court, consular, club, golden age, sporting and (to our interest) five of the ledgers contained Hunt buttons. (Photo: National Button Bulletin USA 1959)
Step 3:
The books arrived to great expectations in America, and were toured and exhibited at various state button conventions. Sadly, the knife was swiftly taken to most of them. They were broken up, entire pages of buttons appearing for sale, or buttons removed and sold individually. Often an empty ledger came on the market devoid of its buttons. Pages of annotations of family and heraldic Arms, with no buttons. Which, if you think about it, means hundreds of buttons for sale with no idea whose they were. Shameful really. (Photo: National Button Bulletin USA 1959)
Step 4
However, a few did survive relatively unscathed. Four volumes containing hunt buttons were still known to exist some more complete than others, albeit with other pages removed, I assume because they contained livery or other more saleable buttons on the American market. This one, previously owned by a renowned American collector was offered to a couple of British hunt button collectors, whom recently passed it on to me. Most of its hunt buttons remained, but six other pages of unknown contents had been sliced out. The condition of the volume was shaky to say the least. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Step 5:
The factory where they had been stored was blitzed in WW2 and the volume was smoke damaged and soot stained. When opened it smelled of smoke and cordite. The acid in the surface dirt was eating into the leather and card pages. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 6:
The leather guards were dry and very fragile, and in some cases had split. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Step 7:
Others were on the verge of coming adrift where intervening pages had been cut out. That bloody American knife again! (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Step 8:
Further work showed that the removed pages had weakened the basic structure of the ledger.
Step 9:
A number of hunt buttons were missing, and I have been slowly filling the gaps with Firmin buttons of the correct age. I need just five military hunt buttons to fill all the hunt button blanks. Where there are un-annotated spaces I may place some of my rarer buttons in there for completeness. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Step 10:
The volume desperately needed a lot of TLC and repair to bring it to a safe level, without over restoring it and removing a lot of its history. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Step 11:
So, it was placed in the extremely capable hands of Jenny Barnard, Senior Conservator of the South West Heritage Trust (SWHT) in Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection)
Jenny cleaned off the acidic surface dirt, whilst keeping the natural age-staining as best as possible. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 13:
The cleaning brought previously faint and almost illegible annotations to life again. These notes tell us the die number, if it is a private commission, if it is still used (at the time), sometimes where the die came from or is now kept and very often the date when that die was registered. One interesting note that crops up often is the word ‘wrong’. This meant that that pattern is now out of date and the hunt has commissioned a new design. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
The muck that came off onto the sponges was quite something to see. Jenny also made minor repairs to damage and splits, where it was possible without over restoration. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Fully cleaned pages look spruce, without being too new-looking. Old staining or lack of is still visible. (Photo: The Firebrand Wolsey Collection.
Step 16:
Jenny took the book completely apart to repair some guards, and to cut and stitch new leather where needed, and apply softener to keep them supple. Because this was not a standard book-binding job, Jenny’s skill set was increased by learning a new way needed to put the pattern book back together. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 17:
The lambskin guard pages in between button pages were left pretty much as they were. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 18:
The other side of the same guard page. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 19:
Those loose pages are now fixed and strong enough to last another 160 years. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 20:
The outer fabric cover received a light cleaning to smarten it up a little, so it looks more like it should do. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
Step 21:
Finally, a custom-sized protective box was made.
Previously, the book had been too fragile to move around much, but now I might be able to take it to shows etc. (Photo: J. Barnard SWHT)
