Hudson Bay Company gilt 21mm button by Monnery & Son.

Hudson Bay Company gilt 21mm button by Monnery & Son.

This is a gilt brass livery/uniform button for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The face carries the HBC coat of arms – the shield with a red cross of St George between four beavers, supported by two elks, with the motto “Pro Pelle Cutem” (A Pelt For A Skin) – enclosed within a rope border, with the legend “HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY - INCORPORATED 1670” around the rim. The HBC was granted its royal charter by Charles II on 2 May 1670, giving the company sole trading rights over the vast Rupert’s Land territory. The rope border is typical of mid-to-late Victorian officer/livery buttons and suggests a maritime or quasi-naval association, fitting for a company that ran supply ships to its Bay posts.
By the 19th century, the Hudson’s Bay Company had introduced uniforms for their officers , and buttons like this would have been worn on the tunics of company officers and servants.

The backmark reads “LONDON & SOUTHAMPTON - MONNERY & SON.” This is genuinely uncommon on a button backmark. E. J. Monnery and Son operated from 109 Fenchurch Street, London, and were active roughly c.1890 to c.1930, known for supplying uniforms and buttons to shipping and navigation companies.
Crucially, Monnery & Gieve is recorded as a military tailor rather than a button maker per se – so Monnery operated primarily as a naval and merchant marine outfitter, commissioning buttons from manufacturers but branding them under their own name. Finding their backmark on an HBC button is unusual; most HBC buttons encountered in the collector market carry backmarks from Birmingham makers (Jennens, Gaunt, etc.) or have no backmark at all on earlier examples.
The Southampton address alongside London is interesting and reinforces the maritime outfitting connection – Southampton being a major passenger and cargo port, and Monnery’s natural territory for supplying ships’ officers.
Dating
The combination of the Monnery & Son name and the Southampton/London dual address, alongside the button construction (one-piece domed gilt brass, omega shank), points to roughly 1890-1920. The relatively crisp gilding and rope border style is consistent with that window.