Joseph Walley
A Liverpool silversmith.
The story of Joseph Walley is closely connected with that of Robert Jones who is said to have come from Tatton in Cheshire. Joseph Walley also came from Tatton, an obscure village near Knutsford.
Robert Jones had been assistant to Benjamin Brancker who died in 1734. The business continued for a short while under Benjamin’s son, John, until Robert Jones took over. Shortly afterwards Robert died, and the appearance of Joseph Walley from Tatton seems to indicate that old friendships were being renewed, for he married Robert Jones’s widow Maria in 1760 and presumably went into partnership.
The establishment he now helped to run involved china and jewellery, as well as silver and was in 1/2 Water Street, Liverpool. Maria Jones’s son, Robert, decided to set up on his own in 1772, but when Maria died in 1789, he and his stepfather appear to have joined forces.
The silver of various kinds - which carries the mark of Joseph Walley - dates from about this time until 1801 when Joseph Walley died.
Robert Jones died in 1826 and most of the plate attributed to him dates from 1786 to 1818. His son Robert had by then become a partner, Robert Jones II.
