I just had a look for "buttons" in some of the County History books and came up with the following:
Abraham Case found a large number of sheep horns when he moved to Shaftesbury in 1622. He sliced them into discs and covered them with embroidered linen thus making his first buttons. It says that Charles I had Case buttons on his waistcoat when he was executed.
Early in the 18th century, demand for buttons was outstripping the supply of horn, so Case's grandson discovered that brass rings were a good substitute. The rings were made by winding a coil of wire round a tube, then slicing each loop into a ring. The ends were joined together by dipping them in lead solder. The rings were tied together by the gross. The children who made the rings were known as "winders, dippers and stringers" and they were liable to both burning and lead poisoning.
In 1731, the industry was reorganized by the Case's manager. He formed two gathering depots at Shaftesbury and Bere Regis where the materials were kept with smaller depots across the region. On a given day, the workers would bring their buttons to the depot and receive their pay, material and rings for the week. The buttons were sorted at the depot and put on cards, pink for best, blue for standard and yellow for seconds. A good worker could make a gross of buttons a day or 12/- a week. Case's employed 4000 in 1803 with a £14,000 turnover and over 100 different types of button were being made.
Around 1852, a new button machine came into use in Birmingham which killed the trade almost overnight and many families had to emigrate to avoid starvation.
I hope that's of interest, my gt-gt granny was a Case so I think there might be a connection
Fred
