“In the Brierley Hill Glass Works of Messrs. Stevens and Williams will be found well exemplified all that has contributed to making Stourbridge Glass famous the world over. For purity and lustre, variety of form, and artistic embellishment, glass stands unrivalled among industrial art products, and it might almost have been put down to necromancy that mere sand and red lead and potash, which form the principal ingredients, are transformable into the beautiful articles one sees in Messrs. Stevens and Williams’s show rooms.” (1903)

The company was founded in 1846, when William Stevens and Samuel Williams acquired the Brierly Hill glass-works, founded in 1766.  Its most notable cameo wares date from the 1880s when the studio was under the direction of John Northwood, but other notable craftsmen employed by the firm include Joshua Hodgetts (1858-1933) an amateur botanist who used his knowledge to cover vases and objects with naturalistic motifs, Frederick  Carder (1864-1963) who worked at Stevens & Williams between 1881-1902, known for museum quality works in the Art Nouveau style, and who went on to found the Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York in 1903, and William Fritsche (working 1870s onwards) a Bohemian born glass engraver who also worked for Thomas Webb & Sons and engraved items in Classical style, particularly in rock crystal.

Many creations have become quality museum pieces. The trading name Stevens and Williams was used until 1930 when the company became Royal Brierley Crystal to signify its appointment as the Royal British Glassmakers. Financial difficulties in the 1990s led to liquidation in 2000, and although still trading under the name ‘Royal Brierly Collection’ as a division of Dartington Glass, the company no longer makes glass.