Staffordshire jeweller discovers incredible family secret linking her to Victorian trade

Julia Usher is the founder and memorial jeweller of Ashes Memorial Jewellery, and can often be found making ornate pieces at her woodland workshop near Yoxall in Staffordshire.

To begin with Julia believed she was the only member of her family that was passionate about jewels.

But that changed after she began when her great uncle conducted family research and told her father about the family's participation in the trade.

This discovery happened while she was a student at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter from 2001 to 2004 - the very same area, it turned out, in which her relative worked during the Victorian era.

She said: “My great-uncle phoned my dad and said: ‘You’re not going to believe this, I’m doing family research and Julia has picked up the family trade after a lapse of two generations.’

Julia learned her great-great-grandfather Samuel Usher also made mourning rings in the Jewellery Quarter in the 1870s.

In 1872 his firm was listed as making ‘gold signet and mourning’ rings.

“I never knew! My whole family came from the automotive industry, so I’ve been a jeweller now for 25 years and over the last 25 years I’ve managed to get his hallmarks into my high-end work. I also managed to get some original pieces of his that I now wear all the time.”

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In addition to this, a book is also being written about the special connection between Samuel Usher and Julia Usher called The Golden Link.

Julia started working for herself as a jeweller when she was 21 years old, and she shared that she was "one of the only women" creating memorial jewellery when she founded Ashes Memorial Jewellery 10 years ago.

The Express & Star recently visited Julia at her studio where it became apparent the importance that memorial jewellery has on her and how she’s developed her own unique style, in particular she enjoys using silver in her metalworks.

She said she couldn’t imagine doing anything else as a career.

Julia said: “I cannot imagine my life not being a jeweller. There have been times in my life where my business has evolved and I wondered if I’d stay in the trade. But every time, there’s been a pull that’s brought me back to it. It’s just meant that I’ve evolved as a jeweller. It means the absolute world to me. I am at my most happy when I’m here at my bench making pieces for other people. I love it.”

Her specialism in memorial jewellery is a niche one.

“It involves encapsulating people’s ashes or hair into jewellery. A few years ago, I developed a unique way of working with ashes that nobody else had done. My signature piece of memorial jewellery is quite different. I roll all the ashes or hair into the silver or gold, and it gives it a beautiful and unique pattern,” Julia said.

Mourning rings were the Victorian way of keeping a loved one close, which is exactly what Julia does today as she uses ashes, hair and fingerprints in her works.

For Julia, she has been fascinated with jewellery ever since she was a young child.

She shared: “I have always been the girl that has loved jewellery, ever since two if you asked my mum I wouldn’t leave the house without a string of pearls or some gaudy plastic ring on my finger.

“I got to be the kid who got to grow up and work in her passion and I think I’m incredibly lucky for that.

“Who doesn't want to work with precious gems? Who doesn’t want to work with silver and gold?

“But more importantly than that, I’m fortunate enough to have a deep connection to my customers through my work.

“I love their stories, I love the fact that the piece that I’m actually making for them is possibly going to be the most precious thing they own, because it’s a memory of their loved one - so I never take that for granted and I absolutely love my job.”