Omar Ramsden Sold at Auction Prices

Commercial artist, b. 1873 - d. 1939

Omar Ramsden (1873–1939) was a Sheffield-born silversmith. He was one of England's leading designers and makers of silverware. He lived on Fir Street in Walkley, Sheffield, Yorkshire, but spent his entire career working in London.

Born in 1873 in Sheffield, he was named after an uncle. The uncle, in turn, had been named after the Ottoman field marshal Omar Pasha.
Ramsden & Carr

Ramsden collaborated for many years with Alwyn Carr (1872-1940). Their first major work was in 1898 when they won a competition to design a mace for the new City of Sheffield: Sheffield had become a City in 1893.

Following their competition success, they moved to London, establishing the Ramsden & Carr studio together in Chelsea, but their partnership ended in 1919. Ramsden's mark used after their split was OMAR RAMSDEN ME FECIT (Latin: 'Omar Ramsden made me').

He was made a member of the Royal Miniature Society in 1921 and exhibited over 90 works with the Society. Both Ramsden and Carr were members of the Church Crafts League, and Ramsden would later become its Chairman.

Ramsden designed a number of war memorials in the immediate aftermath of WWI. They include the war memorial to the London Hop Trade (adjacent to the Southwark War Memorial); the Sandwich war memorial; the Mayfield war memorial (next to St Dunstan's Church, Mayfield); the war memorial chapel at St Luke's Church, South Park, Reigate; the war memorial at All Saints Church, Barrowby; the war memorial at Holy Trinity Church, Weston; and the war memorial (which specifically commemorates the Zeebrugge Raid of 1918) at St George's Canterbury.

The war memorials at Sandwich and Mayfield are Grade II listed.

There is a rosewater dish, which was given as a WWI war memorial, at the Carpenters Company's hall.