We thank Handsworth Golf Club Historian R.L. Neale
for his letter, explaining the origin of their club button and it's History.
Our Club minute book of June 1st, 1901 records that a member
Mr. Joseph Joseph (a local jeweler) offered to design a crest and to sink dies to provide twelve coat/blazer
buttons annually for the winners of the Senior Monthly Cup.
The design is as you see in the top left hand corner of this letter except the outer roundel was a royal blue
color, and not yellow. And "Founded 1895 was not incorporated. It was indeed an enameled design on silver.
Insofar as a coat is concerned the minutes of our founding year 1895 record that it be red with a dark green collar.
An article written by one of our member in 1912 for a local new journal records that anyone who went round the
Eighteen holes in less than a hundred strokes was entitled to purchase a red coat. (Although, he was sure some
never went round in the nineties.)
The button has long since (exact date not known) been replaced by a silver teaspoon with the enameled Club crest
mounted on the end of the handle. These are awarded to the winners of each of the four divisions monthly medals,
and more recently winners have a choice of a spoon or a cut glass brandy goblet, engraved with the Club's crest.
In 1895 the Club lay in the county of Staffordshire and so you will see in the crest three Stafford knots, and therein
lie three legends. The first concerns a French lady who, hundreds of years ago came over to marry the Earl of
Staffordshire, the knot being part of her family crest. Ever since that time the knot has always been associated
with Staffordshire.
The second is quite simply that it was always the original badge of the Earls of Stafford.
The last and most colorful concerns the fate of four Staffordshire men found guilty of sheep stealing, the
penalty for which in those days was death by hanging. The presiding judge set them a challenge by offering to
free the prisoner who could design a single knot that would hang the other three simultaneously.
I'm sorry to say that we have no button is our possession to add to your collection, but I would be grateful if you
would let me know more of you already know of our (1939) button. We do have for sale copies of our Club
history at a cost of #15 stirling plus postage and packing if you wish.
Yours Sincerely
R.L. Neale Club Historian
14th May 1996
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