Livery Buttons Leading Families of New South Wales

Livery Buttons Leading Families of New South Wales

NSW, New South Wales, Medieval Allegiance, crests, heraldry, livery, James McEvoy, clothing imports, clothing

Livery and its insignia were integral to medieval culture; their bestowal and wearing marked allegiance and identification to particular lords, factions or beliefs. As late as the early fifteenth century, regular livery awards at Christmas or Easter or livery rewards for good service were still part of the King’s rituals towards his retainers or, in the case of the hybrid wage system around 1400, his government clerks. This advertisement in the early colonial journal (some 60 years after settlement) offers to import buttons with crests from England to anyone who believes their family name is associated with a heraldic tradition.

Colonial literary journal and weekly miscellany of useful information
vol. 1. 32 1845, p. 79
James McEvoy, Albert House, Pitt Street

National Library of Australia

1845

Copyright Expired

Print Journal; Hyperlink

English