User:ClareDennis/sandbox

Career

Grand Parade Cork, where Williams' workshop was located.

After the death of her husband and her father’s business partner, John Williams in 1806, Jane Williams was initiated by her father, Carden Terry, as his new partner in 1807. A partnership of this kind was very uncommon, mostly due to the profession being male-dominated at the time. However, because of a demand for silver at the time and reluctance to bring in any non-family members into the trade, wives and female relatives were often brought in to work, as a way of protecting the trade from expanding. After becoming a partner, William’s father created a new Silver Hallmark, which now included her initials of ‘J.W’ below his own and was stamped on all pieces created by the workshop, even though many women who were silversmith's at the time had to work under their male relative's Silver Mark, with little to no recognition of their work. William’s name was also the name that was sent with a silver plate to the Dublin Assay Office, a custom that all silversmiths and goldsmiths partake in to guarantee the quality of their products.

After becoming partners Williams and her father became renowned for their pieces. Straying away from the Regency Style of many pieces at the time, Williams went for a Neoclassical look rather than the extravagant detailing and flourishes of the Regency Style. Being different from many pieces out there, Williams’ pieces were often sought after and still are today. The pair continued to create together until Williams’ father passed away in 1821. Williams subsequently closed the workshop in 1822 after the region of Cork suffered a depression and the silver industry in Ireland was suffering due to imports coming in from England. Williams re-established herself as a linen draper and haberdasher. She opened a store in the family's Grand Parade storefront, where the silver workshop had been before. She changed the name of the business to “Jane Williams and Son”.