Wells & Lambe

John Wells was a pocket-book manufacturer based at 34 Cockspur Street, London. Following his death in 1804, his children Thomas and Elizabeth Wells continued the business under the name J. Wells & Co.

In 1809, Elizabeth Wells married John Lambe, a pocket-book manufacturer and silversmith, and the business subsequently became known as Wells & Lambe. By 1811, the firm was established at 29 Cockspur Street, with an additional shop at 44 New Bond Street. Wells & Lambe initially worked as jewellers, silversmiths and pocket-book manufacturers, before developing a particular reputation for copying machines, portable writing desks and finely fitted dressing cases.

The quality of their work attracted a distinguished clientele that included the Dukes of Wellington, York and Cumberland, the Prince of Wales, Queen Victoria and many of her children. In 1813, Lord Byron also became a customer following the breakdown of his relationship with Lady Caroline Lamb. His purchases were recorded as including “a pocket-book, a mahogany dressing case lined with rich velvet, and a portable desk with secret drawers”.

John and Elizabeth Lambe had seven children. Their eldest son, John Wells Lambe, joined the business in 1827. In the same year, the New Bond Street branch closed and the firm continued solely from its Cockspur Street premises.

In 1837, John Lambe received a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria. Two years later, John Wells Lambe, by then an accomplished dressing-case manufacturer, died aged 28 after drowning in the River Thames while returning by boat from a cricket match. By this time, his siblings Henry Thomas Lambe and Elizabeth Lambe had also joined the family business.

Following John Lambe’s death in 1851, his widow Elizabeth continued the firm. After her death in 1865, the business passed to their daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Charles C. J. Eames. Charles, whose principal interests lay in music and journalism, had relatively little involvement in its day-to-day operation, leaving the business largely in Elizabeth’s hands and later those of their son, Herbert Wells Eames.

Herbert’s interests also lay elsewhere, and the firm gradually declined during the 1890s before finally closing shortly before the end of the nineteenth century.