This firm originated in about 1872 as Astley, Roberts & Timm, silversmiths, Orchard Street.  In that year, Thomas Astley withdrew and William Roberts and Herbert Timm (1845-1893) continued the business.  Little is known about Roberts, but Timm may have been the son of Thomas Timm, a bone scale cutter, and his wife Martha.  By 1879 – when they advertised in the local directory – Roberts and Timm were living in adjacent dwellings in Bennett Street.  The firm dealt in electro-plate, though it was a small enterprise.  Roberts told the Census in 1881 that he employed only two boys.  In 1888, the partnership was dissolved.  Roberts’ subsequent career has not been traced; but Herbert Timm, Bromley Street, died on 4 February 1893, aged 48.  He left £288 and was buried in the General Cemetery, where his first wife, Ada, and two sons had already been interred.