By 1800 the vast wealth amassed from the Industrial Revolution had created a wealthy emerging middle class, this prosperity is clearly illustrated with the silver commissioned during this period. Requests for huge dinnerware services to presentation holloware were not unusual and highlight how this success was enjoyed.
This prosperity was not only centred around London but was shared with emergent cities such as Glasgow, Sheffield and Birmingham and allowed silversmiths such as Benjamin Smith and his brother James to really make a mark for themselves as skilled silversmiths and chasers.
Of the two brothers, Benjamin was the more prolific, born in Birmingham in 1764, he began his carrier with Matthew Boulton, before moving to London and later embarking on a partnership with his friend and silversmith Digby Scott in 1802. Their workshop in Greenwich supplied Rundell & Bridge, where they would have worked alongside eminent silversmith Paul Storr; many believe their work comparable in quality to his.
His collaboration with Scott was a particularly fruitful one, it was at this time they were commissioned to create ‘The Duke of York Baskets’ for Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), the second son of George III, previously exhibited in the Powerhouse Museum in Australia; and also the Jamaica Service, created in 1803 for William IV (1765-1837), then Duke of Clarence, still in the Royal collection today. This was no doubt facilitated by their connection with the Crown jewellers Rundell & Bridge, who were the retailers responsible for supplying all banqueting plate and jewellery of the Royal family.
