An early form of Laminated Steel was often found on British "Best" in the mid-1800s but by the 1870s crolle damascus and by the 1880s that new fangled fluid steel stuff was more often being used.
The Birmingham Proof House Trial reported in 1891 (linked above) only had 3 laminated steel samples; #1, #9 & #24
"3 Iron British Best Laminated Steel" was indeed #1, but there was no practical difference between that, Whitworth, and the other "First Class" winners:
English Steel, Siemens – Martin process
English machine-forged variegated Damascus, 2 rods
English “Superior Barrel Steel”
Foreign Steel, Siemens – Martin process
English machine-forged best Damascus, 4 rods
English machine-forged chequered Damascus, 2 rods
Foreign Steel
Unfortunately, I had no Laminated Steel samples in my tensile test study, but have
never seen documentation of greater yield strength with Laminated Steel.
If someone would like to send me a segment (be sure it's not Twist and I need the maker and rough DOM) I'd be happy to take it over to METL for tensile testing.
This is interesting. A Smith A-2 Variation 1 (courtesy of Terry Allen) with British Best Laminated Steel, which was never listed as an option