The Goldsmiths’ Company is pleased to announce that Dr Timothy Schroder has been elected Prime Warden. Dr Schroder, who previously served in the role during 2015-16, is the first member of the Goldsmiths’ Company to be appointed Prime Warden for a second term since 1951, when Walter Godfrey Allen served two consecutive years.
Timothy Schroder was born in 1953 and educated in Oxford, where he attended St Edward’s School and Christ Church at Oxford University. At Christ Church he read philosophy and theology, before going on to specialise in the decorative arts, completing a Diploma at the Study Centre for the History of Fine and Decorative Arts, in London, which was run by the formidable Erica O’ Donnell.
Such an education formed the foundation of his successful career in gold and silver. Dr Schroder is an internationally renowned scholar in the field of Renaissance and early modern silver and has published extensively on the subject.
After university Dr Schroder joined Christie’s in 1976, initially working under the legendary Arthur Grimwade. In 1984, he became Curator of Decorative Arts at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Later he served as the first Curator of the Gilbert collection at Somerset House and then as Consultant Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Dr Schroder is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, a trustee of the Wallace Collection and a member of the Fabric Commission of Westminster Abbey.
Reflecting on this unusual opportunity to serve a second term as Prime Warden, Dr Schroder said: “It is a rare honour to be elected for a second term as Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company. That is what makes it such an extraordinary experience and such a constant learning process.”
During his second term, the Prime Warden will support the Goldsmiths’ Company’s numerous initiatives focussed on its trade, its charities, and its fellowship.
In the last year the Goldsmiths’ Company and its Charity made grants of around £4m a year which went towards supporting its craft, allied trades and industry; funding a range of educational projects; and helping charities working in the areas of youth, criminal justice, and an ageing population.