Button worn on the uniform of the shipping company Barrow Steam Navigation Company (J. Little & Company / Barrow & Glasgow). Gilt brass domed button with a rope twist outer border and raised inner border. The letters B.S.A. Co. are above two pennants. The top flag is red (indicated by vertical shading) and the bottom flag is blue (indicated by horizontal shading) with a bee enclosed within the flag. The house flag appears on lined ground.
On the reverse of the button the maker is inscribed : J.R. GAUNT & SON BIRMINGHAM

Reference to the house flag can be found in ‘Flags: National and Mercantile’ compiled by James Griffin in 1895 (No. 299, page 15).