QVC 11th (North Devon) Regiment of Foot button

This places button production roughly between the mid-1850s and 1875, and since the regiment became the Devonshire Regiment in 1881 (dropping the “11th Foot” designation), the button predates that — so it’s solidly a Victorian era piece, c.1856–1881.

The Regiment — 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot
The regiment was numbered the 11th Regiment of Foot in 1751, and given the county title of 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot in 1782, retaining that name until 1881 when it became the Devonshire Regiment under the Childers Reforms.
Their Victorian-era service was remarkably global:
∙ In 1845 they sailed to New South Wales in Australia. In 1861, a 2nd Battalion was sent to South Africa, where it remained for nine years, including a year in China and Japan in 1865. The 2nd Battalion was then sent to India in 1877, a posting lasting 17 years that included service in the Second Afghan War (1878–80) and Burma (1890–94).
∙ The 1st/11th Regiment was notably popular in Sydney — they returned to garrison the city in response to a public petition in 1848 and occupied Victoria Barracks until returning to England in 1857.
They also earned one of the British Army’s best-known nicknames: “The Bloody Eleventh,” earned after the fiercely fought Battle of Salamanca in 1812.

Most P. Tait & Co. buttons found on the market are associated with the Australian colonial period (the 11th Foot were a major presence there) or with the Crimean War supply contracts. An 11th Foot button with a Limerick backmark is a genuinely interesting crossover — a Devon regiment’s button made by an Irish manufacturer.