Thread: Wm Howcroft and Sons

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

The Hawcroft lineage is even more confusing than I found it to be all that time ago when I first looked into it - so much so that it deserves a mini-update.

William Hawcroft (senior) born ca1801 and living in Fitzwilliam Street at the time of the 1851 census had a rather large family - most of whom were razor makers, including himself. His son Isaac - aged 27 in 1851, also had two brothers - George age 16 and yet another William, age 20.

Isaac's brother William may have been his original partner.

Anyway, back to the ivory pot.

The existence of the pot lends a little credence to the idea that William Hawcroft may have had a barber shop or supplied barbershops. What sort of things would one be likely to find in a barbershop or hairdressers of this period? Hair was powdered and pomaded, so these could be found. Obviously you'd expect a large pot for powder and a smaller one for a greasy pomade which goes a long way.

Articles for mens toiletry needs, like tooth powder. Snuff. Barbers were once barber-surgeons and although they could perform minor (relatively speaking) surgery, tooth pulling and blood letting I don't know if they could prescribe drugs, However, they may have added their names to thirs-party suppliers, so lets add pills to the list.

Men were not adverse to the odd beauty patch (a small black patch that was applied over a lesion or a spot to make it look like a mole or something similar) right through the Regency Era, and these often came in small boxes.

I guess there were many other things, and some we can rule out due to the nature of the box. It is not big enough for powder - a lot was used. If something greasy went in it, the ivory would be discoloured - this does not look to be the case. If something coloured and wet was put in it it would discolour and most likely crack. Although 'tooth powder' seems innocuous at first, a wet brush was dipped in it, so the box may have got wet. It was also made chiefly form gypsum (ugh!) and dye, so the box could have got stained. On the whole, tooth powder pots and pomade pots tended to be made of ceramics.

That leaves us with a couple of likely uses - a pill box which Bill has already suggested, and a snuff box, which Tom has already suggested. Obviously it is of a personal size rather than a pass-round-the-table size, so I think Tom may have it.

Darl - if I had won, I would have bequeathed all my lemon bonbons to you!

Regards,
Neil

Thanks Neil! Your knowledge of the old ways certainly helps understand these objects!

Originally Posted by WW243

Sadly, I cannot take credit for the pill box.Attachment 175154, but here is a twisted knot on a tree.

Oh My! Don't let HarryWally see that! He would be out there with a chainsaw whacking it off! Brush handles galore!

that makes me want to vomit looking at it.... not because its bad, because its that awesome. i want that bad!

What a stunning razor, Tom! Truly a gorgeous piece. Your collection seems to have no limits and I get a lot of joy out of seeing your razors and other gear on here. The little box is really neat, too. But now I want some lemonheads, har!

Originally Posted by xiaotuzi

What a stunning razor, Tom! Truly a gorgeous piece. Your collection seems to have no limits and I get a lot of joy out of seeing your razors and other gear on here. The little box is really neat, too. But now I want some lemonheads, har!

Lemonheads are awesome!

Interesting this razor has been dredged-up.
The blade is about to see an upgrade in scales which are closer to it's time period.
These are from Whiting Silver in the beginning in Attleboto, Mass which are from the 1860's
Some dings to sort-out yet. A project in the line.

And I thought it looked fancy already!