Antique silver  handled William Dudley 1909 Birmingham shoe horn
 
22 cm Originally, shoehorns were made from animal horns,[1] hooves, or glass; luxury shoehorns were made of ivory, shell, silver, or bone. Nowadays, however, although shoehorns made of bulls’ hooves are still available, metal, plastic, and wood are most often used.
 
William Dudley was a self-made man whose success in life he himself attributed to hard work and dedication rather than more brilliant qualities.
 
 
 
He was born on February 21st 1798 in the reign of George III, though not in Birmingham. The first record we have of him is as a jewellers’ factor at 23, Newhall Street, where he and his wife Ann, had two daughters, Ann and Susannah, and a son, William.
 
 
 
By 1831 he had moved to 189, Great Charles Street, where sadly William Junior died, aged 16 months, in July 1831. In 1833 another daughter, Emma, was born.
 
 
 
By 1835 the Dudleys had moved to 14 St. Paul's Square where they completed their family. Louisa was born in 1837, another William in 1838, Henry in 1840 and Charles in 1842. Louisa died in her teens on May 9th 1850 and it is clear from the census of 1851 that the wife Ann died around the same time.
 
 
 
For forty years, until his death on February 23rd 1876, William Dudley worked from the house in St. Paul's Square where he rapidly became successful and gained a reputation for his taste in jewellery and quick perception of the market. He was a rare judge of diamonds and precious stones, earning him the epithet 'Jew Dudley' in deference to the pre-eminence of that community in the trade.