Thread: Anyone have info about a razor by John Ingle??

Cow of all sizes?

Originally Posted by benhunt

Cow of all sizes?

Terry Pratchett's "Where's My Cow?" 😊

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

I think I may have a clue about your razor.
A friend of mine collects shoe horns (people collect and research the weirdest things ). He has a metal shoe horn from the late 1800s with John Ingle, Upper Allen Street engraved on it. He says that John Ingle was a gentleman's shop merchant, possibly a taylor, that sold suits and other men's grooming/dress accessories. Apparently Ingle put his name and address on everything and it is speculated that he did this for advertising. There are razors, shaving brushes, hair brushes, combs, manicure sets, shoe horns, and walking canes out there that all have John Ingle Upper Allen marked on them.

I did some searches on some Sheffield antique auction sites and sure enough about once a year something with John Ingle Upper Allen will pop up and people will ask who is John Ingle. No one seems to have a definitive, documented answer, but the general consensus is that he ran gentleman's shop in the late 1800s due to variety of gentlemanly things that have his name on them.

Their consensus kind of makes sense. Upper Allen street is less than a mile long and Sheffield was a big city even in those days. Putting your name and location on items was a good way of saying that if you want nice stuff, then come here.

If the above is true, then the razor is probably a rebrand of some other Sheffield razor. Is it a quality razor? I don't know, the only way to find out is to hone it up and see how it shaves.

PS: I tried to get a good picture of the shoe horn with the engraving on it, but I couldn't get the engraving to come out in the picture.

That is outstanding news, if true 😄 obviously we won't find out with 100% accuracy but if true that would be great! It does make sense that a gentleman's shop owner would do this but I'm a bit unsure as any research I've done or had done by a friend has turned up no mention of a John Ingle in Upper Allen 😕 it's odd that it's not documented at all being late 1800s and having his name on almost everything

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

If you truly want to know about him, you are probably going to have to go to a library in Sheffield and start digging through collections of old deeds, guild memberships, and census reports. I know Sheffield has a historical society that is trying to get everything on the internet, maybe they can be of some help.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

If you truly want to know about him, you are probably going to have to go to a library in Sheffield and start digging through collections of old deeds, guild memberships, and census reports. I know Sheffield has a historical society that is trying to get everything on the internet, maybe they can be of some help.

Just had a thought, how did your friend find out Ingle was a tailor/gentleman shop owner? Has he ever said how he found out or was it speculation?

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

It was speculation from a newsgroup back in the early 1990s and he had printed out the thread to keep in his files.

So a group of people, all with little pieces of the puzzle, came together to come to that conclusion.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

It was speculation from a newsgroup back in the early 1990s and he had printed out the thread to keep in his files.

So a group of people, all with little pieces of the puzzle, came together to come to that conclusion.

I think, without being hardcore researchers , we have our answer! Thank you very much 😊

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk