Hugh Wallis

Hugh Wallis was born in Kettering in 1871 and trained in art at Bushey, Herts. He started out as an artist but then took up metalwork. In 1900 he opened a studio in Altrincham and registered his first mark at the Chester Assay Office in 1905. In 1918 he still described himself as an artist (he had exhibited paintings at the Royal Academy) but he also employed five or six employees to make items in copper, pewter or brass with metal inlays and some pieces in silver. Hugh became a leading figure in the Northern Art Workers Guild and died in 1943.