Silver Mounted Cut Glass Claret Jug by Walker & Hall Sheffield 1913

Elegantly shaped silver mounted cut lead-crystal claret jug by Walker & Hall Sheffield 1913. Plain sterling silver mount with hinged lid and thumbpiece. Flared lead crystal body with hobnail cut design. Fully hallmarked to collar for Sheffield 1913 and silversmiths Walker & Hall, and partial hallmarks to lid. The claret jug measures 26 cm to the top of its lid (excluding thumbpiece). The company Walker & Hall was initially founded primarily as a manufacturer of electroplated wares. Following the invention of the electroplating process, Henry Hall (Worcester solicitor and businessman) financed George Walker (a Sheffield cutler) thus founding Walker & Hall in 1845. Differing accounts exist as to George Walker’s contribution to the development of silver electroplating in 1843 – however trading (as Walker & Co with his business partner Samuel Coulson) as an electroplate manufactory between 1843 and 1845. Walker and Hall were listed at the Electro-works, Howard Street, Sheffield as silversmiths and cutlers. Two of Henry Hall’s nephews joined the business in the 1850’s and when (Sir) John Bingham joined in 1852, they had fewer than 20 workers. John’s younger brother Charles became a partner in 1872 and helped grow the manufacturing side of the business. By 1894 the company reported 1500 employees in total. The company under Sir John Bingham was adept at publicity; they appear to be the originators of the story that George Walker was a co-inventor of the electroplating process with a Dr John Wright. Walker & Hall were subsumed into the Clore Group and ultimately into British Silverware Ltd in 1963, and finally shut down as a manufacturer in 1971. The name was later revived as a retail firm.