BY JENNENS AND BETTRIDGE, BIRMINGHAM, MID-19TH CENTURY

The partnership of Messrs. Aaron Jennens and T.H. Bettridge, whose firm was called Jennens & Bettridge (fl. 1815-1864), were papier mâché makers of decorative objects based in Birmingham. First recorded in 1815, when it took over the works of Henry Clay's successors in Birmingham. Jennens & Bettridge was famous for maintaining the highest standards of decoration by hiring painters from the Birmingham, and London schools of design to teach its own artists to draw. Jennens & Bettridge served as 'Japanners in Ordinary' to George IV, and opened its London showrooms in Halkin Street, Belgravia in 1837, while showrooms in Paris and New York followed two years later. In 1825 the firm took out a patent, devised by George Souter, for 'ornamenting papier mâché with pearl shell'.