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Elkington Electroplate Silver and Silver Plate
The firm was established in Birmingham by George Richards Elkington soon joined by his cousin Henry Elkington. Both had been apprenticed to George Richards father James Elkington who had a business making toys and spectacles. George Richards Elkington was born in 1801, had six sons and lived his life in Birmingham where he died in 1865. Henry had no surviving children and later set up business making bronze statues including the statue of the Knight of the Magna Carta in the House of Lords. Josiah Mason was invited to become an equal partner in 1842 expanding the range of goods so as to greatly improve the company. He was born in 1795, the son of a weaver, and was largely self educated. Josiah Mason ceased active involvement in the business in 1865, was knighted in 1872 and died in 1881.
At the time, silver plated goods had been made in Sheffield by rolling and soldering thin sheets of silver on copper or by newer techniques of electroplating. A Birmingham Surgeon John Wright discovered that the best liquids for electroplating consisted of gold and silver solutions in potassium cyanide. The Elkingtons purchased the process from Wright and patented the technique by 1840. They also bought a process invented by JS Woolwich that depended on Farraday's discovery of magneto-electricity. A large factory was completed in Newhall Street, Birmingham in 1841 and commercial success followed.
A number of other companies then started using Elkington Electroplate under licence such as Christofle & Cie of France. Queen Victoria permitted much of the royal plate to be copied by Elkingtons in 1868 followed by many of the royal families of Europe. The firm received top prizes at the Great Exhibition of 1851, was awarded the Legion d'Honneur of the French Republic and held Royal Warrants to the British Royal Family. The firm required substantial supplies of copper and built a copper smelting works, complete with their workers' village, in Burry Port near Llanelli in South Wales. The Elkington & Co. name is still in use today under the firm of British Silverware Ltd.
The earliest electroplate made by Elkington's was marked with 'E & Co' crowned in a shield and the word ELEC TRO PLATE in three portions.
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