"the razor is not as old as it might first appear by the pinning - see the washers? Very early razors would tend to have horn scales and no tiny washers like that but rather much larger bullseye washers."

Ah yes you could be right there mate. As you say.. not all that old, just very badly treated in its time. To be fair the scales are actually really nice, and the blade should clean up ok.

As for the sketchy info about Thomas Bird. Much of it based on my, probably, false assumption that the razor was older than you thought. I have found Sheffield Records Online - 1841,1851,1861 census, directories, probate, burials, cutlers, poll book etc to be a useful tool at times.

Thanks to both you and manah for taking the time to try to help