Description
In 1850 the entrepreneur John Walsh Walsh purchased a factory in Birmingham which was manufacturing glass. After his death in 1868 the business was acquired by his daughter Ellen Eliza and her husband Thomas Ferdinand Walker who appointed Lewis Murray to run the company. Under him the firm began making a series of popular cut glass vases and bowls. The introduction of new ranges increased production requirement and another furnace was built in 1886. New designs were registered but imitations from both English and Continental manufacturers presented a major problem. The years 1911 to 1925 were difficult for the glass industry but John Walsh Walsh’s business continued to grow after the trauma of the First World War. In 1922 it was converted to a private limited company and the registration of the trademark ‘WALSH’. This was later modified to include ‘ENGLAND’. Another trademark ‘VESTA’ was registered in 1929. The years 1930 to 1940 were a time of increasing growth and success but after the end of the Second World War, when the pre-war skills were not widely available and government regulations frustrated attempts to restore the main product lines, economic forces led to the closure of the glass department in 1949 and the final closure of the factory in 1951
