EDWARD LAW

SHEFFIELD SILVERSMITHS

Part 1.

© 2000 Edward J Law.

The first entry in the Silver Register of the Sheffield Assay Office is the mark

registered by John Winter, John Parsons and Charles Hall. Winter, who had served his apprenticeship with Thomas Law, was a founding Guardian of the Standard of Wrought Plate, the body which administered the Sheffield Assay Office. He was the principal manufacturer in the candlestick trade, and whilst he was also a partner in the firms of Richard Morton & Co. and Samuel Roberts & Co. he safeguarded the candlestick trade, to which the firm of John Winter & Co. restricted itself, by imposing covenants that the other companies should not compete in that facet of the trade.

Winter registered a mark on his own account on 2nd July 1778. Although the regulations of the Assay Office do not contain anything relating to the differencing of makers' marks it does seem that they have always ensured that two makers do not use the same mark at the same time. Clearly this would be a sensible control measure. It is thought that although he had no intention of working on his own at the time Winter, by registering an individual mark, was in effect reserving it should it be required in the future. As it was, the existing partnership continued until 1782 when it is thought that Winter retired. Charles Hall in his will of 6th December 1782 recorded that he had then lately agreed to enter into partnership with "Messrs Jones, Greenway, Kibble, Weaver and Pasmore". He was dead by 21st January following, and the "value in trade" of £2,613-13-6 included in his estate may well have represented his share of the partnership of Winter, Parsons & Hall. That business continued as John Parsons & Co. with the mark

registered on 3rd July 1793. The partners being John Parsons, William Ashforth, John Roberts, Samuel Mosley and John Green. Roberts was a nephew of John Winter, and Ashforth, who was living in London in 1792, was Winter's wife's half brother. This firm also restricted its output to candlesticks, as did its successor Green, Roberts, Mosley & Co. (John Green & Co.), which entered the mark

in December 1793 the partners being the same as in the previous concern with the exception of John Parsons. Green and Ashforth retired in 1805 when the partnership, known as Roberts, Mosley & Settle, but trading as John Roberts & Co., registered the mark

John Roberts died in 1807 and was succeeded in the partnership by his son John Winter Roberts. He appears to have left the partnership in 1812, taking the trading name with him for the same mark was re-entered in November 1813 by John Roberts, Thomas Clayton & John Amory. The partnership continued down to 1818 when Amory left: the remaining partners had dissolved the concern by March 1820 in which year Thomas Clayton entered the mark

Nothing further is known of the partners.

* * *

When John Winter Roberts left Roberts, Mosley & Settle the two remaining partners were joined by Thomas Settle who had previously been a partner in Richard Morton & Co. The firm did not register a silver mark. Mosley retired in 1814 and in January 1815 John & Thomas Settle registered the marks

The partnership was apparently extended in November 1825 when J & T Settle, Gunn & Co. registered

No output has been noted for the firm after 1828, but there are items of 1829 and 1830 marked

in a quatrefoil. This is not entered in the Silver Register but is ascribed by Jackson to John Settle and Henry Williamson. It seems likely that it would actually have been John Settle and Henry Wilkinson; Bradbury records that the firm of J & T Settle was succeeded by Henry Wilkinson & Co, which firm registered the mark

in a quatrefoil on 24th September 1831, the first occasion on which a mark of that outline had been impressed.

Henry Wilkinson who was born c.1787 was apprenticed with Messrs Settle, the firm which he eventually succeeded. The firm of Wilkinson & Co. were extensive manufacturers of silverware for the remainder of the nineteenth century, Henry Wilkinson was the first Mayor of Sheffield and died in 1873.

The second firm to register marks on the opening of the Assay Office was Matthew Fenton & Co. with

There is evidence which suggests that the marks were in fact for use by distinct partnerships, the one Fenton, Creswick, later Fenton, Creswick & Co., and the other Matthew Fenton & Co. In the absence of partnership agreements it has not been possible to distinguish the personnel, the activities or the dates of the partnerships. A day-book, said to have been that of Matthew Fenton & Co. commences in October 1777. The earliest products are tea tongs, thereafter there are other small wares: spoons, snuffers, scissor cases, fittings for knife cases and for 'kitchens' including feet, handles and vase and pineapple finials. There are also sales to the sister firm of Fenton, Creswick & Co. It is probable that most of the output of Matthew Fenton & Co. was plate. That style is first noted in the Assay Office day-book in November 1780, and tea tongs were tested in that and the following year

The individuals involved, probably in both firms, were Matthew Fenton, one time apprentice of Thomas Law and one of the founding Guardians, Richard Creswick and William Watson. Creswick left sometime after 1778, in which year their utensils and stock were insured for £2,000. When Fenton left the firm of Fenton, Creswick & Co. he was replaced by Edward Oakes and the style was changed to Fenton, Creswick, Oakes & Co. Oakes was probably the firm's traveller; he is noted in the above day-book making 'the North Journey' and travelling to Dublin. He left in 1789 the firm continuing in the style of Fenton & Co.

When the partnership was dissolved in 1795 both the principals were dead, Matthew Fenton being represented by his widow, Mary Fenton, and William Watson by Thomas Watson.

The business was continued by Thomas Watson, James Fenton & Thomas Bradbury, a former apprentice of the firm, under the style Watson & Co., registering their mark

in July 1795. James Fenton was with the firm for only a very short time, having withdrawn from the partnership by January 1796: he almost immediately became a partner in the firm of W Tucker & Co. It appears that Thomas Watson withdrew from the firm in 1826, his interest being taken by his nephew William Watson, the same age, 22, as his uncle had been when he entered the firm in 1795. The new partnership registered the following mark in January 1826

It is not known whether Thomas Bradbury's son, Thomas junior, who had been apprenticed to his father in 1800, was then a partner as he became in 1832 when the partnership ceased and marks were entered for William Watson & Co

and for the father and son partnership of Thomas Bradbury & Son

No output has been noted for Watson & Co. It has been said that William found trade uncongenial. In due course he became, as had his uncle before him, a director of the Sheffield Banking Co.

Thomas Bradbury & Son went on to become one of the leading firms of Sheffield silversmiths in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries until taken over by Messrs Atkin Bros in 1947.

The third entry in the Silver Register records the marks

entered by John Hoyland, one of the first Guardians, John Trevers Younge, Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Middleton. The latter no doubt having taken the share of her late husband, William Middleton, toyman, who died in 1768. John Hoyland was a party to the executrix's bond relating to his estate and was described then as a button maker. Hirst tells us that Hoyland learnt the trade whilst employed as traveller to Thomas Boulsover, the inventor of the Sheffield Plating process in 1742. With that experience Hoyland went into business on his own account, later taking John Trevers Younge, Edmund Greaves and William Middleton into partnership.

The mark is noted in use down to 1778 and probably ceased in 1779 with the death of John Hoyland. In his will of that year he left £10 among the servants employed "in the business I carry on with my friends John Younge and Edmund Greaves", and stipulated that the stock in trade in the partnership was to be continued until the next settling of the partnership accounts. The successors to the business were John Trevers Younge, Edmund Greaves and William Hoyland who registered four marks in April 1779

William Hoyland, the new partner, was John Hoyland's eldest son. His other son, John junior was also a silversmith and, like his father, a Quaker. The partnership was dissolved in May 1787 with Younge continuing the firm as J T Younge & C. in partnership with John Allanson, Henry Walker and William Crowder. The mark

being entered on 1st August 1788. All the partnerships to that time had produced a full range of silver wares from tea tongs to candlesticks.

Allanson left the firm in 1796 and may later have been a partner in the firm of Fenton, Allanson & Machon which registered a mark in 1816. Following his departure two further marks were entered in December 1797

By 1802 Younge's two sons, Samuel and Charles, had joined the partnership and in that year William Crowder withdrew. James Gregory is noted as a partner at the time of the partnership dissolution in 1810. No new marks are noted in this period. It is possible that Gregory had previously been in partnership with John Staniforth as James Gregory & Co.; if so it may be that he joined J T Younge & Co. in 1804, the same year in which John Staniforth registered a mark on his own account.

A new eleven year partnership agreement was entered into on 18th August 1810 the partners being Samuel Younge, Charles Younge and George Kitchen of Sheffield and Henry Walker of London, noting that the trade would be conducted in Sheffield and London. They registered a new mark

on July 1811. Nothing further is known of the partnership but the mark continued in use down to 1828.

Richard Morton was one of the handful of those in Sheffield who produced silverwares prior to the establishment of the Assay Office there. He is noted in business as a silversmith in 1768 in partnership with William Clayton. He impressed his mark

on 16th September 1773, possibly for the same reason as is postulated above in relation to John Winter. Apparently the previous partnership had ceased for a fortnight later the two marks

were entered by Richard Morton, Thomas Warris, John Winter, Samuel Roberts, John Elam, Thomas Settle, John Eyre and Nathaniel Smith. It is on record that this firm was not to produce silver candlesticks, that branch of the trade being reserved to John Winter. There may well have been covenants as to non-production of certain other items as all of the partners except Morton and Warris also comprised the partnership of Samuel Roberts & Co. who registered their mark on the same day.

The Assay Office day-books show that John Winter & Co. produced buckles as well as their main product of candlesticks, the latter being the sole output of their successors John Parsons & Co. Samuel Roberts & Co's main output was silver handles, but they too produced candlesticks. Richard Morton & Co. manufactured a wide range of products, but noticeably not candlesticks, buckles or silver handles.

John Elam was dead by 1780 and it appears that the partnership of Richar Morton & Co. ceased in that year as in July 1780 Richard Morton re-entered

on his own account; Warris and Settle went into partnership together; Roberts and Eyre did the same and Smith commenced the firm of Nathaniel Smith & Co.

Within a year Morton had taken other partners and in February 1781 entered

The names of the other partners and the duration of the partnership are not known. However, it seems likely that the partners were in fact Thomas Warris and Thomas Settle for an insurance policy was taken out in all three names, as silversmiths and plated manufacturers, in September 1780. We know that Morton was in partnership from 1798 with John Morton, Anthony Handley, Thomas Sykes and Thomas Settle, and that partnership continued after the retirement of Sykes in 1805. In February 1806 Handley withdrew, assigning his interest to Richard Morton who continued the firm with Job Morton and Thomas Settle. That partnership probably continued down to the death of Richard Morton in 1812, in which year Thomas Settle joined the partnership of Settle, Mosley & Settle. The fact that there was no mark registered after 1781 would suggest that the firm had a continuous existence. No silver output has been noted after 1802 and it may be that there was a change of emphasis in the partnership at about that time.

* * *

Morton, Settle and Warris were all partners also in the firm of Joseph Wilson & Co. who entered a mark

in September 1793. The firm were instrument makers operating from Morton's premises in Fargate, and the partners, who included Thomas Holy, William Newbould and Joseph Wilson, had succeeded to the business of the latter in 1778.

The origins of the important firm of Tudox & Leader are first noted in 1763 when John Sherburn, Henry Tudor and Thomas Leader entered into an equal partnership with a capital of £3,000 for a period of forty-two years. It is conjectured that the unusual length of the proposed (and subsequent) partnership may have related to the unexpired term of a property lease. The statement that Tudor and Leader were in partnership by 1760 cannot be confirmed but a clause in the agreement of 1763 that the trade was to be carried on in the workshops of all three partners is perhaps an indication that it was a renewal of an earlier partnership.

Henry Tudor was one of the seven Sheffield silversmiths who registered a silver mark with the Goldsmith's Company in London prior to 1773. The mark registered is not known; it was almost certainly in the missing Largeworker's Register of 1759-1773.

In a recital of the partnership indenture of 1763 Sherburn is described as a silversmith. If that is correct then it is perhaps the earliest notice of a Sheffield silversmith as opposed to silver platers. Sherburn died in 1772 leaving his partners extensive legacies, including his interest in the business premises and the dies, only on condition that they each purchased a ring to the value of £10 or more with the motto "J Sherburn is gone before me".

In March 1773 Tudor and Leader agreed to continue as partners for a further thirty years with the then existing capital of £10,000. They registered their mark

on 20th September 1773.

In 1778 they entered into a contract of employment with Samuel Nicholson, rider (traveller) and bookkeeper, by which he agreed to serve them for five years at a salary of £84 pa. They further agreed that he would thereafter be taken into a sixteen year partnership, and that the "Firm of the house" would then be Tudor, Leader & Nicholson. All the parties fulfilled their commitments and as reward for his good service Nicholson was allowed to take a one ninth share rather than the promised tenth.

At the end of June 1785 Daniel Leader, Thomas's brother, came into the business as a junior partner and the name of the firm was changed to Tudor, Leaders and Nicholson. At that time the capital of the concern had been increased to £18,000. It is said that Daniel Leader had been apprenticed to the firm in 1762 as a box maker. His work-book survives for the period 25th February 1775 to 18th March 1785. Like other skilled workers in the trade he was remunerated on a piece work basis and had his own assistant, possibly an apprentice, for whose pay he was responsible.

By January 1793 Thomas Leader had retired to his native Essex and had made a private assignment of part of his share of the profits of the concern to Thomas Leader the younger. Because of differences which had arisen the partnership was dissolved from 1st August 1792 and reconstituted under the same name for a period of six years five months, the partners being Henry Tudor, Thomas Leader, Samuel Nicholson, Daniel Leader and Thomas Leader the younger.

Having drawn up the accounts of the concern to 9th May 1795 the partners decided that it had not answered the ends which were intended (presumably it had either lost money or failed to return more than could be obtained by placing money at interest) and agreed to cease the business from 8th September 1796. As no further marks had been registered it seems that the original mark of 1773 had been continued through to 1796.

On the dissolution the stock, materials and tools were divided into fifteen equal parcels and the partners drew lots for them according to the number of shares they had in the concern. It is clear from this division of goods that the partners intended to continue in the trade.

* * *

Henry Tudor and Samuel Nicholson became partners for an eleven year period from 9th September 1796, the mark

being registered by the two of them in January 1797. ln March 1799, Samuel Nicholson having died, Tudor purchased his interest from his widow and immediately sold the whole of the partnership assets to the Sheffield banker John Shore, receiving £300 in respect of the goodwill of the trade.

When John Shore bought the business he no doubt intended either to sell it on again or to enter into partnership with a working silversmith. He took the latter course, his partner being James Rotherham, who had entered a mark

on his own account in 1792, when he sent in blades for assay, and who entered the mark

with John Shore in August 1799. Little output of the concern has been noted. The partnership had been dissolved by August 1804.

* * *

Following the dissolution of Tudor, Leaders & Nicholson in 1796, Daniel Leader entered a mark

in February 1797: no output has been seen with that mark. By July 1798 he had registered a further mark in conjunction with Thomas Leader

The partnership ended in 1810. Bradbury states that the business continued until 1816, but the title page of an auction sale catalogue records a sale of silversmith's tools etc. on the premises of Thomas Leader Esq., in Sycamore Street, on the 30th May 1814 and the ten days following. This sounds to have been a huge sale and we must assume that for some reason Thomas Leader had kept on all the equipment, either lying idle or possibly sub-let to others. Daniel Leader died in 1817 aged 73.

were the marks of William Hancock & John Rowbotham & Co, registered on 20th September 1773. Rowbotham was a founding Guardian as was William Hancock's brother Joseph. The Hancock's father, Joseph senior (c1711-1791) had been the first to really exploit silver plating. Having learnt the art as Thomas Boulsover's apprentice he went on to apply it to larger items than the buckles and buttons which his master had made. He took William and Joseph junior into partnership in 1769, but had ceased to be a partner by 1771 when Joseph junior retired from the partnership. The date when he commenced the manufacture of plated goods is not certain, one source says prior to 1750 whilst another gives the year 1761. The firm did produce some silver, William Hancock giving evidence to the Parliamentary Committee of 1773 noted that he had sent six tumblers to the London Assay. When Joseph junior retired in 1771 William went into partnership with John Rowbotham, William Birks, Benjamin and Joseph Withers, John Wreaks and Roger Wilson, the firm which registered the above marks. William withdrew in October 1773 when the style was changed to John Rowbotham & Co. under which name they entered three marks on 7th February 1774

That partnership was dissolved in 1776 and John Rowbotham registered a mark

on his own account on 3rd October 1776. The day-books of the Assay Office show that he was producing principally silver handles with occasional small wares such as whip caps and tea tongs. He died in 1781, being described in his will as a cutler.

The John Rowbotham who entered a mark

with Joseph Barraclough in 1787, and the mark

on his own account in 1793 may well have been his son.

It is interesting that William Birks and Benjamin Withers in September 1773, whilst still partners in the above firm, registered a mark

along with John and Dinis (Dennis) Sykes. That partnership which continued to 25th December 1780 was described as silver plated cutlers and the only items submitted for assay were silver handles. It was clearly this distinction of products which allowed Birks and Withers to be in the two partnerships concurrently. Following the dissolution of the partnership of William Birks & Co., William Birks was in partnership with his son and on 5th February 1781 entered the mark

It is significant that in his will of 1779. Birks gave his occupation as cutler. He died in March 1783 when his stock in trade was left to his two sons, William and John.

On 8th January 1781 following the dissolution of William Birks & Co., John and Dennis Sykes and Benjamin Withers registered the mark

and Benjamin Withers entered his mark

on 12th March 1781 the Assay Office day-books again show that the two concerns were producing distinct products, Withers submitting blades, and Sykes & Co. handles. The first partnership of Sykes & Co. appears to have ceased about January 1792 when John Sykes, Benjamin Withers, John Sykes junior and Joseph Withers registered the mark

and Dennis Sykes entered his mark

Both concerns continued the production of silver handles. It was probably a partnership change that caused John Sykes & Co. to enter a final mark

in February 1808.

Thomas Law entered two marks

on 20th September 1773. Another of the founding Guardians he had been a leading manufacturer of silver plated cutlery handles and was Master Cutler in 1753. He was one of only two firms who combined the trades of cutlers and general silversmiths. The Assay Office day-books show that as well as the general silver wares of candlesticks, tankards and coffee pots he was a major producer of silver handles. Among those who served their apprenticeships with him were Matthew Fenton, Samuel Roberts (c1736-1799), John Elam and John Winter. He died intestate, prior to June 1775, and in the grants of Administration of his estate three of his sons, Thomas, William and John are noted as silversmiths.

John and William continued the business although in August 1790 John registered his own mark

for a consignment of blades which he sent for assay that month. That seems to have been an isolated transaction and he is thought to have continued in partnership with William until 1813 when the latter withdrew, following which John appears to have forsaken his father's mark in favour of his own.

Joseph Law was probably the son of John, being noted in a directory of 1830 as "Joseph Law, late John Law & Son". He registered a mark in 1824

as did Joseph Law, John Oxley and Henry Atkin

A fruit knife of their production is known for that year. In 1829 Atkin and Oxley entered the mark

They are recorded in 1837 as Atkin Oxley & Co. The partnership appears to have ended in 1841 when marks were registered for both Henry Atkin

and John Oxley

Atkin's mark was re-entered in 1853 under the style of Atkin Brothers. The firm survived into the twentieth century, taking over Thomas Bradbury & Sons in the 1940s and being acquired by C J Vander of London in 1958.

Samuel Roberts (c1736-1799), one time apprentice of Thomas Law, entered a silver mark

in September 1773. His son relates that he entered into partnership with John Winter, another of Law's apprentices, and four others in about 1765 to manufacture all kinds of plated goods except candlesticks. lt was probably the same partnership: Samuel Roberts, John Elam, John Winter, Thomas Settle, John Eyre and Nathaniel Smith, which entered the mark

on 30th September 1773. The Assay Office day-books contain entries for both Samuel Roberts and Samuel Roberts & Co. and it seems they may have operated as distinct entities in the early days. The reason for this may lay in the fact that in 1773 candlesticks were entered under the name of Samuel Roberts whereas the output of the firm comprised only handles. The partnership ceased in 1780 when Thomas Settle went into partnership with Thomas Warris, and Nathaniel Smith went into partnership in a company of the same name.

A similar mark to the previous one

was entered on 8th January 1781 by Samuel Roberts, John Eyre & Joseph Beldon & Co. The partnership which was to run for eleven years from 1st August 1780 consisted of the three above named together with Samuel's brother, Jacob, and John Ernest Sauer, and was to operate as Roberts, Eyre, Beldon & Co. It is thought they continued in the handle trade until November 1782 when they commenced the manufacture of candlesticks. It is no doubt significant that the change came at about the time when John Winter is thought to have retired. One of the provisions of the agreement was that no partner was to deal on their own account in silver or plated goods, an indication that the mark

entered on the same day as the partnership mark was a matter of form and that although Jacob and Samuel Roberts had been in partnership together from 1777, as makers of table knives and forks, in an agreement which was not due to expire until 1791, they would not be permitted to produce silver so long as they remained partners in Roberts, Eyre, Beldon & Co.

Jacob Roberts died in 1781, but left instructions in his will that his partners were to continue his share for the remainder of the partnership term for the benefit of his wife and son, Jacob junior. The partnership was still in existence in 1786 when Samuel Roberts noted that he was bound for six years with his then partners in Roberts, Eyre, Beldon & Co. His son recorded that there were differences between the partners and we may suppose that it would not be renewed when it completed its term in January 1792. However, there are no marks in 1792 to indicate that the partners went into trade on their own or in partnership; the only subsequent mark which might be relevant is

entered by John Eyre & Co. in 1818, which may be a later generation.

The partners in William Marsden & Co. who registered a mark

in September 1773 were William Marsden, a founding Guardian, Samuel Greaves and Samuel Wilson. The partnership was dissolved before the end of the year with William Marsden subsequently trading on his own using the mark

which he entered in April 1774. The day-book shows the partnership sending in candlesticks, and Marsden buckles.

Greaves and Wilson continued in partnership registering the mark

in March 1774. Neither of the concerns are noted in the day-books after 1774 in which year Greaves & Wilson submitted candlesticks and aperns (epergnes?). It is possible that Samuel Wilson was the same individual who was a partner in Ashforth, Ellis & Co. in the 1780s.

Charles and Luke Proctor who entered the mark

in 1773 are said originally to have been makers of lancets and were subsequently of the firm of Proctors & Beilby, opticians. Judging from entries in the day-books, which include scales, weights, hunters' knives and forks, and medals, the firm avoided the mass production market. It is thought that silver production was very subsidiary to other business activities. It is not clear whether it was this Luke or his nephew, Charles's son, who was a partner in Thomas Pasmore & Co. and Luke Proctor & Co. from 1784 to 1795. It was probably the nephew for the uncle appears not to have prospered, unlike his brother who left some £10,000 on his death in 1808. His will included an annuity to his brother Luke with a request that his sons behave in a kind and affectionate manner to their uncle.

The mark

entered in June 1792 which the Silver Register notes for Proctor & Beilby is thought actually to have been entered by Proctors & Beilby, the name which is entered in the day-book that month against three inkpots. Those are the only items noted for the firm and one wonders whether they were part of a larger manufacture, possibly a globe inkstand. The mark

entered in April 1795 by Charles Proctor & Thomas Beilby may have been a result of the departure of Luke Proctor from the firm.

William Proctor who entered

in March 1817 may have been Charles's son.

was the mark first registered in 1773 by George Ashforth, Ellis, Hawksworth & Best. It is assumed there were initially four partners though the identities of Hawksworth and Best are not known. the partnership continued under the various names:

Ashforth, Ellis, Wilson & Hawksley.

Ashforth, Ellis, Wilson & Hawksleys.

Ashforth, Ellis & Crowder.

Ashforth, Ellis & Co.

The known partners and their periods with the firm were:

George Ashforth 1773-1812

Samuel Ellis 1782-1812 (possibly from 1773)

Samuel Wilson c1782-c1785

Joseph Hawksley c1782-c1785

John Hawksley 1782-c1785

William Crowder post 1785-1803

John Atkin 1804- dead by 1812

Samuel Revell 1804-1812

Thomas Nixon 1804-1808

John Roberts 1808-1812

The partnership ended by 1812, Wyllie recording that they were bankrupt by 1811. They only registered the one silver mark and for the first twenty years appear to have had a steady trade, principally of candlesticks, but including salts, tea pots and coffee pots. George Ashforth died in 1817 at the age of 87. There were several John Roberts in the trade and it is not known whether he was in business before or after this partnership.

* * *

Thomas Nixon went into partnership with Henry Hewitt and Robert Fox entering the mark

in September 1808.

An important division of the Sheffield metal trades was that of button making and one of the principal firms in that line was Holy & Newbould. Thomas Holy was still a minor in 1771 when he was joined in the business, which he had previously carried on alone, by William Newbould. They were to be partners for fourteen years with Holy providing capital of £2,400 and Newbould half of that sum. They entered their only silver mark

in November 1774 and are noted sending buttons for assay. It is clear that Holy was a very able business man, in addition to button making he was a merchant trading with America and was a partner in a firm of instrument makers. His involvement with the latter arose in 1778 through a debt owed to him by Joseph Wilson, an optical, mathematical and philosophical instrument maker. The other partners in Joseph Wilson & Co. were William Newbould, Richard Morton, Thomas Warris, Thomas Settle and Joseph Wilson and the business was carried on in Morton's workshops in Fargate.

Continue to PART 2.

Or return to EDWARD LAW: SHEFFIELD SILVER,

or go to Essay 1: THE ORIGINS OF THE SILVER TRADE IN SHEFFIELD.

LINKS to:

Edward Law, interests, bibliography, and the Victorian prize medals of Huddersfield College.

Anastatic printing, some brief notes, relating to photograph and crest albums and Cowells of Ipswich.

Crest Collecting, research findings, album publishers and scans of crests.

The Sheffield Assay Office, where you will find details of their publications for sale.