Button, Isaac

Isaac Button, the son of Arthur and Caroline Button, was born at Soil Hill near Halifax on 28th June 1903. His grandfather, also called Isaac, had bought Soil Hill pottery in 1897 and worked there with his sons Arthur, George, and David. Isaac and his older brother Arthur Jnr inherited the pottery from their father Arthur. It is thought that Isaac and Arthur Jnr had a falling out, and Isaac ended up working in the pottery business alone for 18 years before he retired in 1964.

Isaac descended from potters and brickmakers. Isaac was a potter and in 1965 There was a documentary made about Isaac Button, called Isaac Button – Country Potter.

“Britain’s potters have organised a unique tribute to a crusty Yorkshire-man, Isaac Button, whose unsung role in reviving the craft is earning belated recognition.

“Button’s importance lay in his survival at a time when the traditional country potter had almost disappeared. A fortuitous film of him working just before he retired in 1964 – though frequently veiled in smoke from his pipe – then played a seminal part in the spectacular revival of country potteries.

“He insisted in making his own bricks to build this place and no two are the same size.”

The Guardian, October 31st 1988

“Isaac Button was a true English country potter. In a day, he could turn a ton of clay into pots. I timed him as he threw a lump of clay on to the wheel, pulled it high, then cut it off with wire: 22 seconds. In an hour, he could turn out 120 pots. In a day, 1,200.

Button’s kiln, at Soil Hill, near Halifax, now lies cold and desolate. He died in 1969. But the 41-minute video that records his dexterity had me on the edge of my seat. In his day, speed was essential. Even before the packaging revolution, household pots and jugs made from clay were treated as disposables. They cost only a few pence. Craftsmen potters had to be quick to earn a living from poorly-paid villagers…

By 1900 England had only 100 country potteries and by the end of the depression a mere dozen. There has been a pottery at Soil Hill since the 17th century. Before the war it employed 13 men. After that, Button could find no more apprentices and worked it alone for 18 years.

The Independent, November 18th 1995. John Windsor.