Its initial aim was to provide 10 Downing Street, residence of the British Prime Minister, with a collection of contemporary silver.
The Trust's earliest commissioned work (1987) was a cruet set by Malcolm Appleby.
In 1991 a large donation from an anonymous benefactor allowed the Trust to commission a sizeable collection.
By 1993 a sufficient amount of silverwork had been made and was presented to Prime Minister John Major, to be used for government and state occasions.
During the summer Parliamentary recess the Trust started a series of exhibitions; the venue alternates yearly between the United Kingdom and a destination abroad.