Josiah Williams & Co

Josiah Williams & Co – based in Bristol, they were the largest manufacturing silversmiths outside the main cities of London, Sheffield and Birmingham.

Robert Williams entered their first mark in 1832 at the Exeter Assay Office. In 1846 he was joined by his two sons Josiah and James trading as Robert Williams & Sons. They carried the firm on when their father retired around 1853.

Listed as James & Josiah Williams in 1855, they were active as manufacturers of silver and electroplated wares. They produced very large amounts of average quality flatware with some good quality holloware.

They opened temporary premises in London in 1860 in Pentonville and then are listed as operating from Bristol again in 1877. With the retirement of James Williams around this time they became Josiah Williams & Co, the partners were Josiah and George Maudsley Jackson. Josiah retired from the business in 1879.

Due to the closure of the Exeter Assay Office in 1882, George Maudsley Jackson entered his mark in London. David Landsborough Fullerton joined the partnership in 1884 with the factory moving to new premises in Bristol and opening a London office in Holborn. Control of the firm was assumed by Fullerton after Jackson retired.

The firm became a limited company in 1925 and traded as Josiah Williams & Co (Bristol) Ltd until 1940.