Antique Ulster Steam Ship Company Tea Pot, U.S.S Co, c1900, Walker & Hall - Sheffield

 2 pints 

Original, authentic and very rare!

Dated around 1900

Silver Plate. Hard & Silver Soldered.

Manufactured by Walker & Hall (Sheffield) (Marked to the underside) 53684/A1

U.S.S Co (Ulster Steam Ship Company) engraved crest to the front 

14.5cm high, 22cm x 13cm 

Good used condition for age and application, with some superficial wear, dints, scratches marks and tarnishing etc

The Ulster Steamship Company was registered in 1877, the company ran services to the east coast of Canada, the Far East, Europe and Baltic Ports. Voyages to New Orleans started in 1896 and the company began carrying a limited number of passengers at about the same time. In 1917 the Irish Ship-owners Company Ltd, (Thomas Dixon & Sons, Belfast) known as Lord Line, was taken over. They had run sailings between Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff and Baltimore, Rotterdam to Galveston, and Cardiff to Montreal and Quebec. Lord Line continued these services as a subsidiary.
Agreement was reached in 1919 between the Ulster Steamship Company, Palgrave, Murphy & Company, Dublin and Hudig & Veder NV Rotterdam, to form a working partnership and to pool vessels. There were limited inter-fleet sales of vessels between the three partners. Following the changes of ownership and the creation of the Republic of Ireland the company was re-registered in Belfast in 1924. On the opening of Great Lakes to foreign deep sea vessels in 1959, the company established a new service. Ulster Steamship Company acquired the shares of Donaldson Line in 1967 and the company traded under the name of Head-Donaldson Line. In 1979 the last ship was sold and the firm was absorbed into Canadian Pacific Operations.

Walker & Hall were Sheffield based silversmiths making their fortune with electroplating, cutlery and silver from the mid-19th century until they closed in 1971. The company started with a Britannia metalworker - John Harrison - who took the first licence in Sheffield from Elkingtons to make electroplated wares. He sent George Walker to Birmingham to learn the new process. On his return to Sheffield, George decided to set up his own business and entered into partnership with Samuel Coulson in 1845. They obtained their own electroplating licence but did not start manufacture immediately. When they did, they were joined by Henry Hall and they started trading as Walker & Hall in 1853. When Sir John Bingham joined them in 1852 they had fewer than 20 employees, but by 1894 they had grown to 1500 workers. Sir John Bingham was a master publicist and they appear to be the originators of the false story that George Walker had been an assistant of Dr. John Wright, the surgeon who had invented the electroplating process and so could claim to be a co-inventor. The story has made it into many texts as fact. They were very successful and went on to open showrooms in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Cardiff, Belfast, Hull, Bristol as well as in Australia (Melbourne and Adelaide) and in South Africa (Cape Town). They became a limited company in 1920 under the name Walker & Hall Ltd, and their "Electro Works" building dominated the Sheffield skyline until it was bombed in the Sheffield blitz in 1940. They managed to rebuild and continued production until 1963. In that year, they combined with Mappin & Webb and Elkington & Co to form British Silverware Ltd. They shut down as a manufacturer in 1973, although the brand was later revived as a retailer.

Shipping box 14