Thread: Need razor ID.

So today I was trying to dig up information on I. P. Cutts razors and I came across this neat old Walking Tour of Sheffield(circa 1874), narrated by a handful of esteemed gentlemen, talking about the Good Old Days.

There's quite a lot about cutlery and razors, of course. But I found this bit about one Mr. Barber, cutler. None of the Barber cutlers I'm familiar with quite match the description I'm including, but the anecdote is so rich and fun I just had to share. I repeat, this is probably not referencing either James Barber or Isaac Barber. I think it's worth sharing all the same.

WRAGG : Talking of apprentices, there was a man in Allen street who had sixteen. He was a cutler of the name of Barber, and he belonged to the property opposite Radford street. Oat-cake was then the constant fare, and people with apprentices always had a batch beforehand, that the lads might eat less. It is not therefore, specially surprising, that when they had an opportunity they snatched a cake from the bakestone. One lad was known to put an oat-cake in a coal basket, with ' the coal over it, while another concealed one under his shirt, and though instantly missed it was devoured before recovery was possible. On one occasion they had brewis or brewes for dinner. One of the lads, thought to be somewhat deficient in intellect, was seen to be pulling off his jacket. When asked what he was going to do he replied, " I'm going to jump into the pancheon to fetch that big piece of cake out on the other side." Barber, with all his parsimony, died in the Workhouse.

LEONARD: What is brewis ?

WRAGG: Oat-cakes, mixed with dripping and hot water poured on, seasoned with salt and pepper.

EVERARD: It is the traditional dish when the Cutlers' Company lunch together before the annual swearing in of the Master Cutler. It is an old Saxon dish. In " Gareth and Lynette" we read: " He had not beef and brewis enow."