A E BONNER

ALBERT EDWARD BONNER was born in Norfolk in 1862 to a farming family. In the 1891 census, at the age of 29, he was living at home with no occupation given. By the 1901 census (after his father's death in 1898) he is boarding in London and gives his occupation as an 'Artist Painter'. He entered his mark in 1905, registered at 17 Gordon Place, Kensington and by the 1911 census he is listed as 'Artist Metalworker'. In 1912, at the age of 50, he married Mary Wright, a minor aristocrat. Based on the abscence of hallmarked pieces after c1918 it is assumed he retired from metalwork at that time. He died in Scotland in 1943, having lived for much of his later years in Limpley Stoke, Wiltshire. He was childless. Bonner was one of those small group of Arts and Crafts silversmiths who flourished prior to 1914. He was described by the Studio magazine in 1904 as a 'designer of and worker in silver and jewellery' based in Kensington. He was clearly also a skilled enameller and wrote an article on enamelling for 'Arts & Crafts' Journal vol. 2, 1905, from which this photo comes.
Thanks to Anthony Bernbaum for research: www.thepeartreecollection.com