Newcastle Assay Office Details--1773

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Details of the Newcastle Assay Office, reproduced from 'The Reliquary' 1893.


Appendix No. 5.

An Account, pursuant to an Order (signed Thomas Gilbert, Esq.), dated the Fourth of March, 1773, of a Committee of the Honourable House of Commons, appointed to enquire into the Manner of conducting the several Assay Offices in London, York, Exeter, Bristol, Chester, Norwich, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the Manner in which Wrought Plate is assayed and marked ; and also into the Frauds and Abuses that have been committed, or attempted to be committed, by the Manufacturers or Venders of Gold and Silver Plate and Plated Work.

An Account of the Number of Goldsmiths, Silversmiths, and Plateworkers, Freemen of, and inhabiting within, the Town of Newcastle upon-Tyne, and who have served an Apprenticeship to the said Trade, that are now Members of the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company of Newcastle, viz.:

John Langlands.

John Kirkup.

Joseph Hutchinson.

An Account of the Names and Trades of the present Wardens and Assayer of the Company of Goldsmiths and Silversmiths of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and when, and at what Times, and by whom, they were respectively elected, viz.:

Names of Wardens. Trades. When elected, and by whom.
John Langlands, Goldsmith and Silversmith...3rd May, 1772
John Kirkup, Goldsmith and Silversmith ......3rd May 1772
By the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company of Newcastle, for One Year.


Name of Assayer.

Matthew Prior, Music Instrument Maker & Silver Turner. In the Year 1759, by the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company of Newcastle.

An Account when, and before whom, the present Assayer of the Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Company in Newcastle-upon-Tyne was sworn for the due Execution of his Office, viz.:

Matthew Prior, the present Assayer, was sworn in the Year 1759, for the due Execution of his said Office, before Matthew Ridley, Esq., then Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

An Account of the Names, and Places of Abode, of all the Goldsmiths, Silversmiths, and Plateworkers, now living, that have entered their Marks in the Assay Office in the said Town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, viz. : Places of Abode of all the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths, and Plateworkers, now living, who have entered their Marks in the said Assay Office.

John Langlands ... Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

John Kirkup ... Ditto.

Samuel James ... Ditto.

James Crawford ... Ditto.

David Crawford ... Ditto.

John Jobson ... Ditto. .

James Hetherington ... Ditto.

Samuel Thompson ... City of Durham.

John Fearney ... Sunderland-by-the-Sea, in the County of Durham.

An Account of the Weight of all the Silver Plate assayed and marked at the Assay Office, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for Seven Years now last past, distinguishing each Year, viz.:

In 1766 ... Ounces 13040 ...

1767 ... Do. 12964 ...

1768 ... Do. 12970

1769 ... Do. 10987

1770 ... Do. 11578

1771 ... Do. 13495

1772 ... Do. 12158

An Account of the Weight of all the Silver Plate broken and defaced at the said Assay Office, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for Seven Years now last past, distinguishing each Year, viz.:

Silver Plate.

In 1766 ... Ounces 262 ...

1767 ... Do. 148 ...

1768 ... Do. 112 ...

1769 ... Do. 210 ...

1770 ... Do. 172

1771 ... Do. 165 ...

1772 ... Do. 125 ...

Total: 1I94 oz.

Matthew Prior

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"A Report from the Committee appointed to enquire into the manner of conducting the several Assay offices," etc. Reported by Thomas Gilbert, Esq., 29th April, 1773.

"Method of conducting the Assay Office at Newcastle upon Tyne".

"Mr. Matthew Prior (a musical and mathematical Instrument Maker and Turner, Assay Master of the Goldsmiths Company ot Newcastle upon Tyne) produced, pursuant to the Orders of Your Committee the several Accounts annexed in the Appendix, No. 5 ; and informed Your Committee, that upon his being elected to the Office of Assay Master, he took an Oath prescribed by the Act of King William the Third, and is guided in his Duty by that Act.

That he attended the Assay Office for his Father, who was Assay Master many Years before he died, and that the Company had often seen him make Assays for his Father.

He also produced to Your Committee his Assay Weights, and said he bought them in London: that he had weighed them to see if they bore a due Proportion, and had tried them with Reports of Assays of Silver made in London, and found they agreed to about a Pennyweight ; and that the lowest Subdivision in his Reports is Half a Pennyweight.

That he makes his Assays upon Coppels made of Bone Ashes, which he prepares himself several Months before he uses them:–That his Muffles are of the same Size and Form as those made in London, and made of the same Sort of Clay that Glasshouse Pots are made of, and will hold about 21 Coppels: That he assays Two Days a Week : That he puts refined Lead with the Silver into the Coppel in order to make the Assay, and assays the Lead before he uses it, but never found any Silver in it.

Being desired to describe his Method of assaying Silver–he said, We scrape a Quantity of Silver from every Part of the Vessel that comes to the Office ; we weigh that in the Assay Scales very exactly with the Twelve Ounce Weight ; we then add a Quantity of fine Lead to the Assay, put it upon a Coppel, and refine it to fine Silver ; when it is fine we draw it out of the Fire, and weigh it with 11 oz. 2 dwt. and if it weighs that, we call it Standard, though we pass it at 11 oz. ; it has been the Practice of the Office to allow a Remedy of Two Pennyweight; that the London Office does the same, and it is an Indulgence which has always been allowed; and that he never made use of any other Flux but Lead in assaying Silver. And being asked, If he used any other Flux than Lead in the assaying of Gold ? he said, Yes, Aqua Fortis, fine Silver, and Lead.

He also informed Your Committee, That One or both of the Wardens always attend on the Two assaying Days, which are Tuesdays and Fridays, from Nine in the Morning till the Assaying is over, and that they sometimes assist him ; that the Scrapings are taken off, the Assays made, and the Plate marked, in the Presence of the Wardens; that he has no fixed Salary, but is paid One Halfpenny an Ounce for all the Plate which comes to be assayed, by the Owners of it.

Being asked, If the Knowledge of the Trade of a Working Goldsmith, or Plate Worker, was necessary to qualify a Person for scraping or cutting Wrought Plate properly? he said, He imagined it was ; but also said, That an Assayer not brought up to the Trade of a Silversmith might judge whether all the Plate in One Parcel was of One Sort of Silver, and might know whether Plate was forward enough in the Workmanship for assaying, and whether loaded with unnecessary Solder, as well as if he had been brought up to the Trade ; and that by the Practice he has had at the Assay Office he has learnt to examine every visible Part of the Plate very nicely.

That the Makers of Wrought Plate send a Note with each Parcel of Plate, which is entered in a Book kept for that Purpose, called 'The Assay Book.'

That he never heard of Convoys; but has known in the same Parcel some Plate better, and some worse, than Standard, but knows not whether it was from Fraud or Mistake. Being asked, What Method he took, when he suspected that some Plate in a Parcel was better and some worse, to prevent the Company Marks being obtained? he said, That he made a different Assay of all the Pieces he suspected, and has done so for many Years.

That when all the Pieces in One Parcel appear to be of One Sort of Silver, he takes a small Quantity from every Piece, as much as will make an Assay ; that when Plate appears under Standard, he sometimes re-assays it, and has re-assayed Plate Three Times, in order to satisfy the Owner; that he puts Four Marks upon the Plate, viz.: The Lion, the Leopard's Head, the Three Castles, and the Letter for the Year ; and that the Letter for the present Year is D; that these Marks are kept in a Box which has Three Locks upon it; that the Wardens keep each of them a Key at their own Houses, and the Witness keeps the other in his Pocket; and the Box cannot be unlocked without producing the Three Keys ; that the Diet (which is Eight Grains from every Pound of Silver that is marked) is kept in the same Box; and all the Diet, except Two or Three Ounces is taken out of the Box every Year by the Wardens, and appropriated to defray the Expence of the Office ; and that the Company thought Two or Three Ounces a sufficient Quantity to be kept.

That the Diet in the Office remains in its original State, as Scrapings and Cuttings from the Plate, and he never knew any of it to be assayed, nor does he remember the Diet Box ever to have been sent or required by the Lord Chancellor to be sent, to the Mint; that he knows nothing of the annual Weight of the Diet, but the Wardens do, as they keep an Account of it in a Book kept for that Purpose ;–that there are Scrapings now in the Office taken in several Years, but are mixed together.

The Witness further said, That there never was an Assay made at Newcastle by any other Person than himself, since he was appointed Assay Master; that the Office is kept in a private House; that there are in it Two Assay Furnaces, and a Pair of Scales, so exact that a Hair off the Back of his Hand will turn them either Way."

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