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William Devenport, Silversmith

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davidtimm

New Member
Hello, friends.

My name is David, and I work at the Denver Botanic Gardens in the U.S. Next fall, we are installing an art nouveau exhibit in our galleries, and I'm looking for any details any of you may have about William Devenport, who was a silversmith. From what I could find in independent research, Devenport and Son operated on Northwood Street in the early twentieth century.

However, I can't find anything about his birth/death years, which are essential for our organization when following our in-house standards and procedures for label text. If anybody can find additional information about his life, I would be greatly appreciated. For example, our label for some of his silver works would look something like this: Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), or William Devenport (18??-19??).

Any other information would also be wonderful. Thank you all for your time looking into this.
 
I think what you need is for someone to find one of the William Davenports (as there could be more than one) involved with the company in a census ?
 
1783674571153.png

The origins of the esteemed maker known as William Devenport began in early Victorian England in 1837. The firm was founded by Joseph Whitton after whom it was named. When William Devenport became a partner it was styled as Whitton & Devenport. Later on this jewellery concern was known as William Devenport and when his son joined the firm, William restyled the business name to William Devenport & Son. Copied from https://thevintagecompactshop.com/b...lRww-tdRpig42SmUnVH7SeUtOm4BUOdpW6CN-eUMTqIGC

Lots of info about firm & examples of their work.
 
The site says the company was founded by Joseph Whitton (I think this should be Whitten, see advert below) in 1837.

There is a Joseph Whitten appearing in 1884 Kelly’s, and so the development of the company may not be totally as described ?

IMG_1585.jpeg
 
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There is a dissolution of the partnership in the London Gazette between Joseph and William in 1881. They were at 12, Spencer St.

However Joseph Whitten was founded in 1837 and traded until at least 1888 at 21 Spencer Street.
 
davidtimm said:
Hello, friends.

My name is David, and I work at the Denver Botanic Gardens in the U.S. Next fall, we are installing an art nouveau exhibit in our galleries, and I'm looking for any details any of you may have about William Devenport, who was a silversmith. From what I could find in independent research, Devenport and Son operated on Northwood Street in the early twentieth century.

However, I can't find anything about his birth/death years, which are essential for our organization when following our in-house standards and procedures for label text. If anybody can find additional information about his life, I would be greatly appreciated. For example, our label for some of his silver works would look something like this: Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), or William Devenport (18??-19??).

Any other information would also be wonderful. Thank you all for your time looking into this.
Click to expand...

“However, I can't find anything about his birth/death years, which are essential for our organization when following our in-house standards and procedures for label text. If anybody can find additional information about his life…”

I think I have found the right William Devenport and his baptism is registered as April 1810. But his birth is down as “about” 1810.

As to his date of death the ancestry trail, I believe, leads to a red herring. But he does appear on the 1861 census, but not on the 1871. His wife Sarah who looks to have taken over the Co died in 1875 and then it was taken over by his second son Cornelius. His first son William seems to have ventured elsewhere, however was one of the trustees of his mother’s will.

Maybe one of our Ancestry experts can be more precise ?
 
Thank you all so much for your help so far! I didn't realize that tracking information down about a silversmith would be so tricky.

Regarding the baptism date, I do think that would be a different William Devenport (possibly his father?), as his work we are hoping to show (this shelf clock) is credited as ca. 1909-1910.

Other interesting facts about the clock we're showing (I'm not sure if these tiny details will help much):
  • Silver marks of an anchor (Birmingham), Lion (England), and K (1909); Silvermaker's mark W.D (Willam Devenport)
You have all been fantastic, and I apologize for my intermittent replies/reactions. I appreciate you all so much.
 
Pedrocut said:
“However, I can't find anything about his birth/death years, which are essential for our organization when following our in-house standards and procedures for label text. If anybody can find additional information about his life…”

I think I have found the right William Devenport and his baptism is registered as April 1810. But his birth is down as “about” 1810.

As to his date of death the ancestry trail, I believe, leads to a red herring. But he does appear on the 1861 census, but not on the 1871. His wife Sarah who looks to have taken over the Co died in 1875 and then it was taken over by his second son Cornelius. His first son William seems to have ventured elsewhere, however was one of the trustees of his mother’s will.

Maybe one of our Ancestry experts can be more precise ?
Click to expand...
That William died in 1862 I think as his will is on Ancestry.

1784017394100.png
 
Which William Devenport is David referring to ?

William Augustus Devenport may be the son of William Devenport. Will Augustus died in 1920 and was born around 1857.

At the site given by Superdad the firm came into existence in 1837 by John Whitton, and later joined in Partnership by William and formed Whitton and Devenport.

So is it more likely the origin is William Snr ?
 
I believe William Agustus is the one I'm looking for, since the original goldsmith & silversmith company was founded by Whitten but acquired by Devenport later, possibly near or after Whitten's death (from my understanding of the information we've found so far!).
 
So we need info on when Whitton (note the o) and Devenport came into existence. If it is, say, before 1867 then it could be the senior as William would be too young ?
 
Pedrocut said:
Which William Devenport is David referring to ?

William Augustus Devenport may be the son of William Devenport. Will Augustus died in 1920 and was born around 1857.

At the site given by Superdad the firm came into existence in 1837 by John Whitton, and later joined in Partnership by William and formed Whitton and Devenport.

So is it more likely the origin is William Snr ?
Click to expand...
Post 10 dates the object around 1910 so likely to be William Augustus.
 
ok i have found william devenports burial info below...its possible he could have a headstone..map below showing the lay out of key hill cemetery click on link and on the left a drop down box will show the numbers of graves in each section..i can just make out grave 807 but it would take one of our experts to go down armed with the map to actually locate it


www.jqrt.org

Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemetery Grave plans

This interactive publication is created with FlippingBook, a service for streaming PDFs online. No download, no waiting. Open and start reading right away!
www.jqrt.org www.jqrt.org

buried key hill cemetery
burial number 51707
section I (dont think its the number 1 but rather the letter I)
grave number 807

lyn
 
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