Richard Attenborough & Co were, according to their own publicity, established as silversmiths in 1796. As well as being antique silver dealers they were leading silversmiths, making silver cups and presentation silver for many organisations throughout the 20th century, including The Peace Cup, presented to the Mansion House, London in 1918, and The Miss World trophy 1955.
James Charles Jay acquired the firm in 1887, which became James Jay Ltd in 1897, and in 1904 the firm became Jay, Richard Attenborough & Co. Ltd.
Jay began as a pawnbroker, with a business that had begun in the bar of a pub in Brixton called the Loughborough Tavern, Loughborough Road. James Charles Jay owned 142-144 Oxford Street but before then his Uncle, James Jay had started James Jay Ltd in Islington and Brighton. Emma Elizabeth Jay had the casting vote when the business was divided up in the very early 1900s and Jay Richard Attenborough came into being - (information from Di, Anne, Jane and Susan, great-grand-daughters of the Jay family line of the business).
