Name/Title
Nine silver chief officer buttons from Hastings Police c1942 - 1952Entry/Object ID
2566Description
Nine tarnished silver police chief officer buttons, four large and five small, each with a King's Crown centre surrounded by laurel leaves and marked to the rear "W. Dowler & Sons Ltd Birm" and "silver"Use
For a very senior police officer to wear on their tunic.Context
To this day chief officer ranks in the police service, including assistant and deputy chief constables, wear a generic style of button on their tunics, consisting of a crown surrounded by laurel leaves. In the past these buttons were usually silver or silver plated. These are clearly marked "silver" and were used by Angus Cargill when he was the chief constable of Hastings from 1942 - 1954. The use of the King's style crown shows that they date from before 1952. They were made by the well established firm of Dowler in Birmingham, famous for buttons, badges and other uniform accoutrements. The larger buttons would have been for the front of a tunic and the seller ones, the pockets, sleeves or epaulettes.