Randall Chatterton was the son of Joseph Chatterton and was made free on 1st February 1809. He was described as "of City Garden Row, City Road, Silversmith and Spoon-maker, Citizen and Goldsmith". His son, Randall Robert Chatterton was apprenticed to him 7 August 1822 and another son Joseph, on 3 March 1824. His first mark was registered on 17th October 1825. He registered other marks up to 1829 and was believed to have been active until 1841. It is curious that he did not register his mark until 16 years after he was made free. This does suggest that he did not register a mark at all and that the mark registered was that of his son Randall Robert Chatterton, although if his son were not apprenticed to him until 1822, it would seem a bit soon to register a mark just 3 years later.

Some people might confuse Randall Chatterton with Richard Crossley, but in fact it should be fairly east to differentiate between the two as Randall Chatterton did not register his first mark until 1825 and Richard Crossley had died by 1815. Having said that, given that Randall Chatterton was free from 1809, there may well be work with his mark dated between 1809 & 1825, even if in theory there shouldn't be! We also have the slight added complication of Richard Crossley's various partnerships. Between 1807 and 1812 he was working with George Smith, but he did register another mark alone in 1812 which was presumably used until he died in 1815. My view would be that only items dated between 1812 & 1815 could cause confusion although I would be very interested in seeing any sugar tongs dated between 1807 and 1812, marked just "RC" because in theory these cannot be attributed to either of them!!

These tongs are standard fiddle pattern and dated 1825.

Click here to see some tongs by Richard Crossley