Boodle and Dunthorne.

ESTABLISHED 1798, Boodle & Dunthorne, the jewellers and goldsmiths of Liverpool, Chester, Manchester and London, is owned entirely by the Wainwright family.

Mr Tony Wainwright, who sadly died in 1992, took over the business when his father died in 1945.

In the last century, Henry Wainwright, Tony's grandfather was apprenticed to an uncle who owned a jewellery business in Cheltenham. Having served his time, he moved to one of the high-class jewellers in Liverpool, Kirk & Co. where he became a partner.

Mr Kirk died in 1890 and Henry bought the business from the executors, together with the goodwill, stock and establishment date of 1798.

In time, Henry took his two sons into partnership and changed the name to H Wainwright & Sons, with an important corner site of Church Street and Parker Street.

In 1911, the two sons broke away from their father and bought the stock, premises and goodwill of another old-established firm at 13 Lord Street, namely Boodle & Dunthorne. It was purchased from the executors of Mr Boodle & Mr Dunthorne, who died leaving a rather dilapidated but beautifully appointed and well stocked jewellers specialising in rare objets d'art and the then fashionable art nouveau silver and jewellery, also antiques, special timepieces, high quality carriage clocksand eighteen carat gold pocket watches. That ethos remains to this day - the best of contemporary design, together with the finest traditional values.

Today Boodles remains a British family company, run by Tony Wainwright's sons, Nicholas and Michael Wainwright. Nicholas heads up the gemmology and creativity, while Michael is more focused on the commercial side, along with Jody and James - the sixth generation of the family now working in the business.

In 2004 Michael and Nicholas received joint lifetime achievement awards from the British jewellery industry.

Their shops are in London's fashionable Sloane Street and Regent Street, within Harrods, and in the Courtyard of the Royal Exchange.

In the North West Boodles is the pre-eminent jeweller, in Manchester and Chester, together with their famous head office building in Liverpool.

Whilst many jewellers buy from manufacturers, Boodles remains steadfast to its original principles of designing and crafting jewellery themselves, ensuring that their jewellery is always recognisable and of the highest possible standards

p FOR more information about Boodles, ring 0151 227 2525

CAPTION(S):

Nicholas Wainwright - gemmology and creativity