Anthony Nelme, son of John Nelme, a yeoman of Muchmerkle, Herefordshire, was recorded as an apprentice to Richard Rowley in 1672 and was then made over to Isaac Dighton. Once he was free of the Goldsmiths' Company in 1690, Nelme was elected to the court of assistants in 1703. He was made fourth warden in 1717 and then second warden in 1722. During the period of Huguenot prominence, Nelme was the leading English-born goldsmith and was a signatory to the petitions to the Goldsmith Company wardens protesting the presence of the "necessitous strangers" in London. Queen Anne and the leading members of the aristocracy were some of Nelme's patrons. Among most of his important surviving works are a pair of 40-inch alter candlesticks of 1694 at Saint George's Chapel, Windsor (Honour 1971, p. 122), and a pair of pilgrim bottles of 1715 at Chatsworth (Honour 1971, p. 125).