Mappin and Webb

Mappin and Webb is a company originally founded in Sheffield, England. The company is a noted firm of Silversmiths and formerly cutlery manufactures with roots back to 1774 when Joseph Mappin (snr) founded the firm. The company is now a retail jeweller, and Royal Warrant holder.

Arundel & Mappin

The firm was started by Joseph Mappin in 1810 with a partner a Mr Arundel. They registered a trademark a "Sun" in 1812 and were trading from premises in Norfolk street and Mulberry street.His eldest son Frederick Thorpe Mappin (1821-1910) joined at the age of 13 as an apprentice. He then ran the business following his farther death in 1841. His brothers Edward, Joseph Charles and John Newton, joined the firm later. The business grew, taking over William Sampson & Sons in 1845 and he also bought a London shop, to sell direct and later in 1856 a warehouse. He expanded trade with overseas trips, and setting up agencies in markets like Canada and Australia. The Firm was renamed as Mappin Bros in 1851. By 1851 he became the youngest ever Master Cutler. By 1852 he opened a new factory on Flat street, next door to Rodges Norfolk street works (now the site of the Old Central post office). But after a dispute in 1859 with his younger brother, he left the firm, which later became part of Mappin and Webb.

Frederick Mappin

Frederick Mappin then became a partner in the Thos. Turton & Sons steelworks and implemented mechanisation of the processes, despite a strike by employees. He became a successful industrialist and latter a politician. In 1854, he was elected to Sheffield Town Council as a Liberal, stepping down in 1857. In the 1860s, Mappin became a director of the Sheffield Gas and Light Company, and of the Midland Railway. In 1885, he supported the formation of the University of Sheffield, and was created its first Pro-Chancellor. The University's Sir Frederick Mappin Building is named after him. He was knighted in 1886, Sir Frederick Mappin, 1st Baronet. When he died in 1910 he left nearly £1 million.

Mappin & Webb

John Newton Mappin started a electroplating and Cutlery firm which by 1868 was called Mappin & Webb. The firm was stared with his Brother in-law George Webb. The firm prospered but the old family firm of Mappin Bros. had started to decline, as by 1863 the firm was reported as only employing 200 in a local trade review. By the 1880s the Mappins bros. firm had been sold to a Belfast jeweller, and then sold to Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co. of London. But in contrast Mappin and Webb run by Newton Mappin was thriving with a large showroom on Norfolk street, displaying the Silverware and electroplate. by 1897 the company was granted a Royal Warrant. Today Mappin & Webb is silversmith to both Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and to the Prince of Wales Prince Charles. In 1899 the Sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger was apprenticed to the firm as a metal engraver. Newton Mappin bought the family firm back in 1903.

The Companies premises at No 1 Poultry in London was famously demolished, in the 1994 by developer Peter Palumbo to be replaced by a controversial new building designed by architect James Stirling. [http://www.geocities.com/londondestruction/mappin.html]

Modern day firm

The Firm was taken over by Aspery & Co. in the 1980s, but was sold later.The company is now a brand owned by the Jewellers Goldsmiths group. [http://www.mappin-and-webb.co.uk/ourhistory.html]

References

* The Sheffield Knife Book, by G. Tweedale, Hallamshire press, ISBN 1-874718-11-3