E. Wolff & Son Ltd

Trading Names:

· Elias Wolff 1822-1839,

· Elias Wolff & Son 1840-1915,

· E. Wolff & Son Ltd 1916-1920.

Trading addresses

·  At 23 Church St, Spitalfields, London 1822-1866,

·  55 Great Queen St 1867-1915,

·  82 St Thomas's St SE 1916-1920,

·  30 York Road, Battersea by 1901-1919 or later,

·  Falcon Pencil Works, Battersea 1920.

Principal business: Pencil makers, coloured crayon makers, artists' colourmen, etc.

History

Elias Wolff was recorded as a pencil maker, born in foreign parts, age 60, in Church St, Spitalfields in the 1841 census. This long established firm of pencil makers traded for a century or more. It was recorded as Eziah Wolff in 1839 (Pigot's Directory, 1839). It advertised in The Art-Union in the 1840s: newly invented sketching pencils (September 1842 p.219), Creta Lævis or permanent drawing chalk (June 1843 p.155), 'a new Grey for Portraits, &c, the silvery tone of which presents great advantages' (December 1844 p.363). The business published a trade catalogue, c.1840, advertising Patterns of improved tinted papers: adapted for pencil, crayon, chalk, and water colour drawing (Winterthur Library). Their pencils and Creta Lævis were widely stocked by other companies in the mid-19th century and they exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition. The business subsequently advertised as Makers to Her Majesty's Government, featuring 'Superior Black-lead and Colored Pencils, Pure Cumberland Lead Drawing Pencils, Royal Academy Drawing Pencils, Compressed Lead Drawing Pencils, Metallic Gold and Silver Cakes For Illuminating, &c (The Artists' Directory for June 1870, 1870).

The business had an account with Roberson, 1846-53 (Woodcock 1997). By 1921, it had been incorporated into the Royal Sovereign Pencil Co Ltd, and by the 1950s the business was describing itself as makers of pencils in Great Britain since 1796, with factories at Pontyclun, Glamorgan and Sydney, New South Wales.
	From a brochure c. 1920 (courtesy of Wandsworth Local History Centre)