This silver-plate enterprise can be traced to Whitelock, Ellis & Machon (sometimes spelled Machin), which registered a silver mark (‘H.W. & Co’) in 1792.  It was based at Red Hill, Broad Lane.   The partners were Henry Whitelock, James Ellis, and Godfrey Machon (c.1767-1841).  After William Tucker joined, another silver mark (‘IE & Co’) was registered.  (Tucker had been in partnership as a factor with William Crowder, but this had been dissolved in 1789.) In 1796, after Ellis had died, James Fenton joined the firm and a silver mark was registered in their names.  

In 1797, Tucker, Fenton, Machon, & Whitelock was listed in the local directory as a silver plater at Red Hill.  In 1806, one of its silver platers, Martin Sykes, was charged with robbing the firm of more than 400 ounces of silver, which he had sequestered at his house and in a stable (St James’s Chronicle, 16 June 1806).  By 1810, the business had moved to Norfolk Street and Fenton and Whitelock had withdrawn.  Tucker, Fenton, and Machon registered a silver mark.  The enterprise sent its goods to London to be sold wholesale at its leased premises (which included a dwelling house and warehouse) at Castle Street, Holborn.  The London office was staffed by Walter Allanson, who was apparently born in London.  In 1815, he was listed in a directory under the head ‘Sheffield warehouse’ at 23 Castle Street.  In 1816, however, Tucker, Fenton & Machon filed for bankruptcy and the Castle Street premises, ‘established in the Sheffield plated line upwards of twenty years’, were offered at auction (Public Ledger & Advertiser, 30 August 1816).  The business, though, continued to trade and pay off its debts.  At the end of that year, Fenton, Allanson & Machon registered a silver mark (‘IF & Co’) at the Sheffield Assay Office.

In the early 1820s, Fenton, Allanson & Machon was listed as a silversmiths and platers at Norfolk Street.  James Fenton, Walter Allanson, and Machon continued as partners until Fenton’s death at Wilson Place on 6 April 1832, aged 60.  Walter and Henry Allanson apparently handled the London office, while Machon managed the Sheffield operations.  Godfrey Machon died in Brook Place, Broad Lane, on 2 November 1841, aged 74.  By then, Joseph & William Machon & Co had been launched by Godfrey’s sons: Joseph (bapt.1793-1847) and William (bapt.1801-1847).  The firm was based in Norfolk Street, Sheffield, and Castle Street, Holborn, London (presumably with Walter Allanson as agent or partner).  The firm ended in 1847.  William, of Broomspring Lane, died on 13 April 1847, aged 47.   The business was restyled as Allanson & Machons, but it was dissolved by Walter Allanson and Joseph Machon shortly before the latter’s death at Glossop Road on 29 September 1847, aged 55.  The Machons were buried at the parish churchyard.  Walter Allanson died in 1850 and was buried on 5 November at St Botolph’s, Aldersgate.  His son, Walter, continued to trade at Castle Street as an Australian agent.