Buttons

A back street detour on my way to the station after work led to a nice discovery of a pair of shield shaped ghost signs, either side of a doorway. The premises seem to be 4, Bedford Street, a nineteenth century survival in a row of mostly modern blocks. I’ve put the second sign and a wider shot for context in extras.

The main image is the most legible but is a palimpsest of at least two signs, the most recent of which is a name: HM Simans. A quick search doesn’t reveal a lot, but someone (indeed the only person) of that that name (Hyman Mark Simans(ky)) was born in Sweden abt. 1878, married in 1901, addressed the congregation of Harrogate synagogue in 1919 and pops up in a few other Jewish press articles of the same period. At one point he was interviewed about antisemitism in local golf clubs. He died in Knaresborough on 24th December 1938.

Beneath the name is a legible “BUTTONS”  and there is an old 1914 directory entry for “Star Agency Ltd Button Merchants.”

I haven’t made much sense of the second sign yet, other than the clear “AGENT”.