Tailors’ Buttons

Young & Ince, Ballarat/ Richard Ince, Ballarat/ Ince Bros.

The Ballarat Courier, 24th August 1875 page 2.

Richard Ince snr moved from Melbourne to Ballarat in 1864. After working as a cutter for Christies & Co he went into partnership with Robert Young in 1875. Mr Young died in 1886, aged only 46 years.

The Ballarat Star, 14th January 1886 page 2.

Richard continued the business until retiring in 1901, selling the business to Mr W. H. Gent.

This button was presumably used between 1886-1901.

The Ballarat Star, 15th August 1901 page 5.

In 1903 Richard traveled to Melbourne where he met a young widow, married her, and died, all on the same day! A post mortem examination showed that he had died of heart failure. He had retired and also lost his wife of 45 years in the two years previous to this, so he may have been emotionally vulnerable to have acted so impulsively.

The Bulletin, 14th February 1903 page 12. The widow was only 25 years of age. Richard died only 20 minutes after the newly weds “retired for the night”.

Two of his sons, Richard jnr (1863-1936, known as Dick) and Arthur (1855-1907), had worked for Young & Ince. Arthur moved to Geelong by 1885 with brother Richard (Dick) moving to Melbourne by 1888 to operate separate branches of their partnership, ‘Ince Brothers’, which was still listed in Melbourne and Geelong in 1953-4, although Arthur had died in 1907, and Dick in 1936. A couple of their sons (the 3rd generation) were also tailors, and kept the name going. During the war they supplied military uniforms.