H. Button & Co was based in Nottingham and was classed as a general dealer. It originated with Herbert Victor Button (1897-1867), who was the son of Harry Button (an engineer fitter) and his wife, Lilian.  Hebert’s first job was as a boot shop errand boy. In 1926, he married Hilda Smalley nee Bott (1894-1963), and started business as a general dealer. He specalised in fancy goods suitable for sports prizes. In 1934, the enterprise – when it was trading at Alfreton Road – failed. Hilda, who had started a small business trading in knitting fabrics, replaced her husband as proprietor of H. Button & Co. According to her own account, Herbert did all the outside work and kept the books, while she was the official owner (Nottingham Journal, 7 July 1939). H. Button & Co was bankrupt by 1939, when it was revealed that the Button’s had relied heavily on credit and was £1,137 in debt (with assets of only £117). At the bankruptcy hearing, Hilda admitted that she and her husband had at various times had five motor cars. The Official Receiver stated that ‘it was very much like a husband trading in the wife’s name, and that he was always the brains of the party’ (Nottingham Evening Post, 6 July 1939).  In the following year, Herbert left Hilda and apparently became a surveyor. He was occasionally in the newspapers for petty misdemeanours: in 1940, he was fined for showing a light during the blackout; in 1947 for obstruction with his car; and in 1948 for careless driving. Hilda, ‘a single woman’, died at Nottingham on 31 January 1963, leaving £723. Herbert died on 30 July 1967, leaving £13,616.