The QVC Crown & Cypher on British Uniform Buttons of the Grenadier Guards and the Honourable Artillery Company
Compiled by Tim Burt © 2006

Long time member Frank Fluellon (L356), showed me a button today, (April 22, 2007), which had a bit of a mystery to it. I show a similar button below. He said it was a Grenadier Guards button with an unusual backmark. It was also in white metal and not brass or gild. He asked could I research the backmrk.

Back Mark –     A · DARKE · M · T · ARMOURY HOUSE ·

First thing I did, was type into my trusty Google search engine, “ Armoury House”. I got a lot of hits on the Honourable Artillery Company. It was their HQ address in London, England.

Next, I Googled, “crowns & cyphers”, and found an interesting article by Bob Dunn & Diana Hefti. One of the items is shown below, (with a little hi-lighting and embellishment from me). This answered the nagging question . . .  Why white metal ?

R376  The Honourable Artillery Compnay wear the same buttons as the Grenadier Guards but their buttons are plain or polished white metal, (because the H.A.C. are volunteers), and the Grenadier Guards are brass or gild, (regular army).

So, I was able to let Frank know, the button was an H.A.C., and not the G.G.’s.

This does not mean that the HAC made their own buttons. Like military tailors, it was made for them, probably by Jennings, and that the back mark name, was the Military Tailor ( A · DARKE · M · T ·),and (ARMOURY HOUSE), was HAC’s HQ address.

By the way, anyone out there can confirm that the M. T. stands for Military Tailor ?

Tim Burt (880)