A cased set of four silver-gilt and nephrite dishes, William Hornby, London, 1911, retailed by Kendall & Co.

William James Hornby, a specialist manufacturing silversmith to the trade of novelties and mounted goods, was born in 1856, the eldest child of William James Hornby (1835-1900) and his first wife, Eliza (née Kelsey). In the 1881 Census, W.J. Hornby senior is described as a foreman silversmith living at 20 Red Lion Street (now Britton Street), Clerkenwell, the premises of the manufacturing silversmiths, Richards & Brown. W.J. Hornby junior entered his first marks on 30 August 1898 (Culme, nos. 15076, 15077), giving his address as 14 Soho Square, where he is listed as a silversmith and pencil case maker. By 1900 the business was relocated to 19 & 21 Heddon Street, Regent Street. Although Hornby died on 28 September 1914, William James Hornby, the firm, was continued at Heddon Street by John Henry Hill, who entered two marks on 6 November 1914 (Culme, nos. 9196, 9197). Within a year, Hill moved Hornby’s to 17 & 18 Great Pulteney Street, Soho where Hornby’s continued until the 1930s.

Kendall & Co. refers to the short-lived firm of that name of 17 Rue de la Paix, Paris, retail jewellers and goldsmiths and suppliers of high-glass leather goods, automobile and travelling bags, &c. Kendall’s appear to have been out of business by the end of 1908 when the premises were taken by the Parfumerie D’Orsay. Several other Hornby items in silver retailed by Kendall have been recorded, including a cigarette box in the form of a dog kennel with French bulldog, London, 1905, sold at Sotheby’s Belgravia, 8 June 1978, lot 135, as well as a set of six game bird dishes in this sale (lot 134).