Jackson’s records a William Welch of Plymouth Dock dated between 1758 and 1809 and a second William Welch from 1801 to 182?.  Neither of the marks shown in Jackson’s show a pellet between the two W’s.  There is a good deal of discussion over the William Welch maker's mark, particularly concerning whether or not there was a pellet between the two W's.  I have therefore shown a wide range of maker's marks from sugar tongs of the period.

Plymouth Dock is in fact the previous name for Devonport and Devonport is an important Naval port and has been for several centuries.  When we look at the Assay books for work that William Welch of Plymouth Dock submitted for Assay at the end of the Eighteenth century, we note that he sent in many "Boatswain's calls" for assay.  This is logical and he was clearly a main supplier to the Naval trade of Plymouth Dock.  His entry on 6th June 1781 is curious as he sent in 89 pairs of sugar tongs for assay.  Prior to that, he had only sent in 2 pairs of tongs.  We then do not see any further tongs sent for assay until 20 years later.  On 20th March 1801 William Welch of Exeter sent in 8 pairs of tongs for assay.  The important note is that the Assay office register specifically states that it was William Welch - Exeter.  This is clearly a different William Welch to the one at Plymouth Dock.

In an attempt to un-tangle the Welch folks, we see the following:

William Welch of Plymouth Dock sent the following work to assay:

Note that the records between 1st December 1784 and 25th March 1794 are missing.  However it is noticeable that there is nothing recorded to the name of Welch between 25th March 1794 and 1st June 1795, a period of well over a year.  There are also other noticeable differences with the later work, namely the volume of punch ladles being made is significantly reduced.

The fact that there is no William Welch work at all assayed between 25th March 1794 and 1st June 1795 suggests that the entry of 1st June 1795 was the first entry for a new William Welch, (perhaps the son of the first William Welch).  My best guess is therefore that there was a William Welch of Plymouth Dock working from some time prior to 1780 until sometime before March 1794 and then a second William Welch of Plymouth Dock who made his first entry on 1st June 1795.  Because of the missing records, we cannot be certain of this, but given that the first William Welch is reported to have started sending work for assay in 1758, there is surely a limit over how long he could have worked.  We then see work assayed by Thomas Welch of Plymouth Dock from 16th July 1800 and then see work by William Welch of Exeter from 20th March 1800.  William Welch of Exeter and Thomas Welch of Plymouth Dock were both sending work for assay at the same time.

Thomas Welch of Plymouth Dock was not a very prolific maker & sent only the following items in for assay between 16th July 1800 and 7th August 1801:

16th July 1800 - 166 sleeve buttons

19th September 1800 - 27 boatswains calls

27th December 1800 - 208 sleeve buttons

1st July 1801 - 24 small buttons & 188 shoe clasps