A Worcester dessert service by Chamberlain - history of service donated to Baltimore Museum of Art

Magazine Antiques, Sept, 2000 by Mavis A. Cleggett

A partial dessert service made by the Chamberlain factory in Worcester, England, was given to the Baltimore Museum of Art by Mrs. Francis white in 1973. The service consists of twenty-six pieces, some decorated with views that are sufficiently unusual to have provoked e collector to seek the identity of the original purchaser. [1] Research in the Chamberlain archives in Worcester revealed that the dessert service was ordered by William Brown (Fig. 1) of Liverpool, the eldest son of Alexander Brown (1764--1834) of Baltimore, in October 1816 with additional plates ordered in December 1818.

Alexander Brown was born in Ballymena in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and became a successful auctioneer at the Linen Hall in Belfast. Anglo-Irish relations being at a low ebb by the late eighteenth century, Brown immigrated in 1800 to Baltimore, where his younger brother Stewart had been in business as a general merchant for three years. Alexander came with his wife and son William, leaving three younger sons in boarding school in Yorkshire. In December 1800 he opened his Irish Linen Warehouse in Baltimore.

Alexander Brown took William into the business in 1805, and in 1808 his second son, George (1787-1859), joined the firm. After two unsuccessful attempts to set up a branch in Philadelphia, in 1806 and 1809, William Brown resigned from the firm, returned to Ballymena to marry a cousin, and set up his own firm, William Brown and Company in Liverpool, early in 1810. Four years later he established William and James Brown and Company in which his three brothers, but not his father, were partners. From 1824 to 1858 the firm occupied a warehouse and countinghouse on Chapel Street near the Church of Saint Nicholas (Fig. 2) and close to Georges' Dock, at which the Browns tied up their own ships and others carrying their cargoes. William and James Brown and Company eventually evolved into the banking firm of Brown, Shipley and Company which continues today Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Alexander Brown became one of the first millionaires in the United States by 1821, and his firm evolved into the banking firm of Brown Bro thers, Harriman and Company. [2]

Throughout the nineteenth century the three younger Brown brothers, in addition to being partners in the Liverpool firm, were also prominent in business in the eastern United States. George was instrumental in founding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1827 and became its first treasurer. He resigned on the death of his father to take over the family's banking affairs. He was a generous benefactor to charitable institutions in Baltimore. His widow, Isabella McLanahan Brown, whom he had married in 1818, erected the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, noted for its Tiffany windows, in his memory

John Brown (1788--1872) established the first branch of the Baltimore company in Philadelphia in 1818, which was known as John A. Brown and Company. [3] He retired after the financial crisis of 1837 but continued to be active in philanthropy, mainly in connection with the Presbyterian church. After the death of his first wife, Isabella Patrick of Ballymena, in 1820, he married Grace Brown of Baltimore in 1823.

James Brown (1791--1877) went to New York City in 1825 to establish a branch of the Baltimore business under the name of Brown Brothers and Company From 1827 until his death he was active in the Chamber of Commerce of New York State. Throughout the Civil War he spent much time in Europe, and it was largely due to his efforts that the various Brown firms were able to survive. He was a generous contributor to medical and religious charities, and, when he died, the mayor of New York City caused the flags on all public buildings to fly at half-mast.

The Chamberlain factory order book on October 30, 1816, confirms the following order from William Brown of Liverpool:

1 New Centre/4 New Shells/2 Ends/4

Squares/2 Lozenge Dishes/2 Tripod Cream

Bowls support Dolphin/24 8 inch Plates/6

Plates figures at 50-/18 Ice Plates

Fawn Vandyke 403/With [diff.sub.t]

Flowers, Shells, Birds/Feathers & Landscapes

Plates about 9 or 10 each painting

Must be in L'pool before Christmas [4]

The last line suggests that Brown wanted the service ready to meet the sailing date of one of the firm's ships. [5] He presumably sent it to members of the family in the United States, for the only objects from it that are known today have all turned up in Maryland, Virginia, and New York.

The first seven items in the order represent the basic components of a dessert service at the time and were priced at about sixty guineas. The ice plates, an option, were one guinea each. The latter resembled small soup plates about seven inches in diameter, and because of their shape were more expensive to produce than the larger dessert plates.

The pieces in the Baltimore Museum that survive from the Brown order of 1816 are the centerpiece, two shell dishes (one decorated with birds, the other with flowers), two "Ends" (one decorated with seashells, the other with fruit), two of the "Squares" (one decorated with feathers [Pls. I, Ia], the other with a view of Polesden Lacey near Dorking in Surrey), a tripod cream bowl (P1. II), and six plates (one with a view of Worcester, another with the tomb of Rousseau, and the rest with various views of the Lake District).