Thread: A Witness to history!

Hi everyone! Went looking for a 'Taylor's Eye Witness' club to share this in but I guess we don't have one? (please correct me if I missed it).

Thought I would share this razor with you all as it has a wee bit of history behind it that may be of interest to my fellow New Zealander's - and perhaps the rest of the rabble ;-)

This 6/8 Taylor's Eye Witness is a pretty unassuming razor - bar the unusual 'wedge-less' scales it doesn't have a lot going for it. Sure its in pretty good condition - rust is minimal, hone wear is near non-existent and the scales are intact - but for all intents and purposes its just a simple old utilitarian Sheffield.

And then we have the etch on the blade. At some point in time during their years in business (becoming a Limited liability company in 1883 and ceasing operations in 1904 after a fire destroyed their Auckland premises) T & S Morrin Limited saw fit to order in from Sheffield a Batch(?) of customized straight razor's to sell or otherwise promote their prosperous agricultural supplies company.





T & S Morrin Ltd. was founded by an abundantly moustachioed gentleman named Thomas Morrin, a Canadian from the County of Two Mountains, Montreal, (or a Scotsman from Lockerbie, depending on which source you read) who arrived in New Zealand in 1865. Thomas (and his brother Samuel) settled in Auckland and quickly rose to prominence in the regions business community, most notably as a supplier of farm equipment and hardware and as the contractor for the construction of the Western Springs Waterworks, Auckland's first major water reticulation scheme. Thomas was also well known as a land developer, horse breeder and 'for introducing Fox-terriers to New Zealand as ratters'.



In 1874 Thomas and Samuel 'acquired some 30,000 acres of land in the Waikato region from the local Maoris, subsequently naming this property “Lockerbie”. In the same year a housing settlement for the station employees was established there - this village was called Morrinsville after the principal partners.

As someone originally from the Waikato region of New Zealand I found this all really interesting - I have been to Morrinsville on numerous occasions (now a small dairy farming town of 6000 odd) as its not far from were some of my family members still live. Funny how history can throw up all these intersecting details!

Anyway without further ado, here's the old girl (resting on a newly made box) that inspired my spurt of internet research ;-)