The business was founded in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1788 by Christian Ker Reid (1756-1834) who was born in
the Canongate in
Edinburgh in 1756, the son of Andrew Reid, a brewer, and his wife Christian
née Bruce. In 1769 aged 12 he was apprenticed to the Edinburgh silversmith William Davie, following which he gained a position with Langlands & Robertson as a journeyman silversmith. In 1778 Reid arrived in Newcastle from Edinburgh where he started his own company and making his first submissions to the Newcastle Assay Office in February 1791. He married Margaret Todd in Newcastle in 1781 but she died in 1783. In 1784 he married Mrs Margery Thomson
née Forsdyce and with her had at least thirteen children. In 1818 the partnership of Christian Ker Reid and David Reid Snr. was registered but Christian Ker Reid continued to assay silverwork under his own mark until 1819. He died in 1834 following which his sons William Ker Reid (1787-1868), David Reid Snr. (1792-1869) and Christian Bruce Reid (1805-1889) ran the company. The Reid family married into the
Barnard family of silversmiths as brothers William Ker Reid and David Reid Snr. married sisters Mary and Elizabeth Barnard, the daughters of Edward Barnard Snr. who established
Edward Barnard and Sons. William Ker Reid's marriage to Mary Barnard produced thirteen children, seven boys and six girls. In 1847 his son and heir Edward Ker Reid married his cousin Anna Barnard, daughter of John Barnard Snr.; they were both the grandchildren of Edward Barnard Snr.). ==Reid & Sons==