| AdminHistory | The business was established in Sheffield in 1845 by George Walker. The firm was initally known as George Walker and Company, electroplaters and guilders, 11 Howard Street. After becoming an assistant to Dr John Wright of Birmingham, who had conducted important experiments on electroplating, Walker secured the royalty of electroplating for Sheffield. Walker was joined in business by Henry Hall and the firm became Walker and Hall in 1853. Walker and Hall first registered a mark at Sheffield Assay Office in May 1862, with revised marks registered in 1868, 1873, 1876, 1877, 1892, 1894 and 1896.
The firm's operations remained centred at Howard Street, Sheffield (expanding also to Eyre Street by the 1880s). Showrooms were also opened at 45 Holborn Viaduct, London, and branches later opened in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Cardiff, Belfast, Hull, Bristol, Melbourne and Adelaide (Australia) and Cape Town (South Africa). Walker and Hall was converted into a limited liability company in 1920 under the style Walker and Hall Limited. It was combined in 1963 under the British Silverware Limited with another Sheffield silver manufacturing firm, Mappin and Webb, and the Birmingham firm Elkington and Company. |
| CustodialHistory | These items were donated to Sheffield Archives by a private individual in August 1982. |