The founder was Arthur Edward Poston (1896-1971). He was born at Ilford in Essex, the son of Arthur Poston and his wife, Florence. The latter couple operated the Cross Keys Pub, at Crown Street in Dagenham.
In the Census (1911), Arthur Edward was working as a cutler’s assistant. By the end of the 1920s, he had launched a retailing silversmiths at Lonsdale House, Dowgate Hill, next to Cannon Street Station, in London. Besides silverware, he sold jewellery, rings, watches, sterling silver and electro-plate cutlery.
His products were sourced from Sheffield and Birmingham. In Sheffield, his ‘Works’ was likely to have been Poston Products Ltd, which by 1951 operated as a manufacturing silversmith from 245 Rockingham Street (an office address). Later addresses in Sheffield were Backfields and Cambridge Street. Poston used ‘LONSDALE’ and ‘CHESTER’ as trade names.