Thread: Mr. Hallam's Razor

Neat Razor Tom,

Get 'r fixed up and running.

E. Rhodes was Ebenezer Rhodes, born 1762 in Rotherham. He was apprenticed to a scissor-maker for seven years (the usual period), then took on a partner David Champion, scissor grinder, and began to make scissors and razors at the Wicker, Sheffield.



He became Master Cutler in 1808. His partner, Champion, died in 1817 and he continued on his own, also taking to debating societies (held in the local public house!), writing books (all of which were financial disasters!) and essays. His razors gained quite a bit of praise and distinction, and to some he was considered n authority on the subject after writing a pamphlet about the making of razors. This author quotes him thus:



He was declared bankrupt in 1828 and died at the age of 77 in 1839.

That's a beaut, Tom! I envy you!

Regards,
Neil

That's a beautiful razor. A rare maker and fantastic scales. Great combination.

Tom - Hallam certainly is a surname! Records from 1780 - 1820 throw up 1,694 people with the surname Hallam in the Yorkshire area alone. There were probably many more, but the census returns for 1801 - 1831 were destroyed and the only census info available is from 1841 onwards, the earlier stuff being obtained from parish records (deaths, births, marriages and so on). A line of the Hallam family even emigrated to America to set up a needle-making company.

Indeed, one Joseph Hallam was once Mayor of Sheffield!

What further complicates things is that the further back you go, the more likely people were to record names as they heard them of how they fancied they were spelled. For instance, some of the variants given for Hallam are Ellam, Hallom, Eleam, Hallums, Hallen and Hillam - some of the wilder ones were undoubtedly tinged by strong regional accents, others by the habit of dropping the H.

I am not at all sure about the first initial too - it could even be an S. Taking it as an L though, there were remarkably few L. Hallams listed - I only came across half a dozen or so including Lewis, Lister and Luke. Luke, although residing in Notts, could be a potential owner - he was a merchant so had a bit of wealth, being a tailor in charge of two men. His possible birth date was 1801, so the time frame fits, but it's a bit of a loose connection without more info!

Regards,
Neil

Wow, Neil! I somehow had been thinking you could unlock the questions I had about this one! I do fancy it was made for a wealthy man. The Mayor of Sheffield! That's my story and I shall stick to it!
Thanks as well for the info on E.Rhodes. It is sad the blade is damaged. It is beautifully made.
So is this razor from the reign of the last George, or from his father's era? I had studied up on the Georges, but forget dates just now. Do you think my silver steel blade is from the same era?
Somehow, I do not think another E.Rhodes blade will turn up!

Your expertise and knowledge are greatly admired and appreciated.
Finest Regards,
Tom

Thanks Tom!

The razor could be either from the reign of:

George III - reigned from 1760 to 1820
George IV - reigned from 1820 to 1830

However, Faraday and Stodart's work led to a paper in 1820 about the special alloys including silver steel, and silver steel was used by a number of companies after that date to make razors, so it is definitely from the reign of George IV. In fact, there is a very small window of opportunity for the date as Rhodes' firm went bankrupt in 1828.

Regards,
Neil

I have nothing new to add, but I wanted to say that those scales are incredible!

Add me to the envy list of that blade. Truly, it's a shame about the chip -- I have to think it would've remained whole if it hadn't been reground.

I've been looking for a copy of Mister Rhodes' pamphlet on razor manufacture for a while now, but sadly haven't turned up anything. However, his more famous book is available through Google Books, over here.

Supposedly, his 1821 pamphlet on razor manufacture talks about (among other things) how the historical art had faded terribly from it's glory days.

Neil, do you have any idea if anyone was using the GR stamp for George the III? I'd gotten the impression that the tradition more or less started (at least with razors) when George IV got going in earnest and had pretty well died out by the end of Victoria's time (though I have seen a J. Weiss 7-Day set that is unequivocally 1920's with a GR stamp).