A Victorian silver-mounted glass liqueur decanter in the form of a parrot, Henry William Curry, London, 1883

Henry William Curry (10 June 1845 – 1896), was a son of John Curry (b. 1814/15), a silver caster, and his wife, Mary Ann (née Gregory, b. 1814).¹ On 2 November 1859 he was apprenticed as a silversmith for seven years to John Barnard, a partner in Edward Barnard & Sons, manufacturing silversmiths of Angel Street, St. Martins Le Grand, City of London. He gained his freedom on 23 November 1866,² and entered his first marks on 1 January 1868,³ giving his address as 21 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell. These had been the premises from about 1860 of the manufacturing silversmith, Augustus George Piesse,⁴ who died on 1 November 1867.⁵ The 1871 Census return for this address⁶ lists Curry there as a manufacturing silversmith, employing eight men and four boys, together with his parents and his two brothers, Charles John Curry⁷ (1848-1914), a modeller, and William Frederick Curry (1850-), a silversmith’s traveller.

W.H. Curry entered further marks on 13 March 1869 (defaced 23 March 1882) and 23 March 1882.⁸ In 1880 he advertised as ‘(successor to the late A.G. Piesse,) Manufacturing Silversmith, and dealer in second-hand plate. Chasing and engraving . . . Repairing. Polishing, Electro-Gilding, &c., done on the shortest notice at the lowest possible price. A large stock of second-hand plate always on hand.’⁹ Although that same year Curry was sued by the Goldsmiths’ Company for counterfeiting hallmarks,¹⁰ he continued in business as a manufacturing silversmith until 1889/90. He then moved to Wood Green, Middlesex, where he briefly became a publican and proprietor of the King’s Arms Hotel and Assembly Rooms.¹¹

Meanwhile, Curry’s premises at 21 Great Sutton Street passed to Charles Stuart Harris junior who, trading as Charles Stuart, manufacturing silversmith, entered a mark on 14 February 1890.¹² Following his bankruptcy the following year, Harris soon entered into partnership with Henry William Curry, trading as C.S. Harris & Co., manufacturing silversmiths. Their partnership was dissolved on 24 June 1895.¹³

H.W. Curry was married on 23 August 1871 at Meare Church, near Glastonbury, Somerset, to Betsy Ann, daughter of Joseph Curry of Westnay, near Meare.¹⁴ They had seven children. Curry’s movements after 1895 are unknown.

Notes

1. He was baptised at St. John, Hoxton, on 25 December 1845.

2. Freedom of the City Admission Paper, London Metropolitan Archives, CF1/2032/2(a)

3. Culme, nos. 7998-7999

4. Culme, vol. I, p. 366

5. A.G. Piesse (b. 26 August 1829) was apprenticed on 1 November 1843 as a silversmith for seven years to Walter Morisse, silversmith of 5 Jewin Crescent, City of London. (Freedom of the City Admission Paper, London Metropolitan Archives, ELJL/1831/33)

6. Public Record Office, Kew, RG 10/381, p. 60

7. C.J. Curry was apprenticed on 5 February 1862 for seven years as a modeller and chaser to John Barnard of Edward Barnard & Sons. (London Metropolitan Archives, 2061/11/a) He was briefly in partnership in the early 1880s with Alexander Crichton, well known to collectors of silver-mounted glass claret jugs, &c. in the form of birds, animals, &c. (Culme, vol. I, p. 102; John B. Hawkins, ‘Alexander Crichton and Through the Looking Glass,’ Silver Studies, The Journal of The Silver Society, no. 27, London, 2011) A number of Alexander Crichton silver-mounted parakeet and budgerigar jugs, similar in construction to the present W.H. Curry parrot example have been noted.

8. Culme, nos. 8000-8003 and 8004-8006.

9. Kelly’s Directory of the Watch & Clock Trades, London, 1880, p. 5

10. Culme, vol. I, p. 367. However, in addiction to his legitimate role as a manufacturing silversmith, there is reason to believe from the survival of a considerable number of old pieces of silver embellished with the addition of distinctive cast elements that Curry ignored the law governing the proper hallmarking of altered plate. It is likely that much of this illegitimate output, as well as later chased silver, was supplied by Curry to the retail goldsmith, C.J. Hill (successor to Catchpole & Williams). (Culme, vol. I, p. 77)

11. Kelly’s Directory, Middlesex, 1890; Curry applied for the renewal of his license on 7 September 1891 (Tottenham and Edmonton Weekly Herald, Lower Tottenham, Friday, 18 September 1891, p. 7e)

12. Culme, no. 2448, and vol. I, pp. 366-367

13. The London Gazette, London, Tuesday, 3 March 1896, p. 1293

14. The Western Gazette & Flying Post, Yeovil, Friday, 1 September 1871, p. 5f