Thread: Info needed again Please

It could be that the company that Alex shows the makers mark for are another company entirely - there seem to have been a lot of Birds (not the tweet-tweet variety!) in Sheffield in allied trades all involving metal working of one type or another. They were later in time than Edward Bird though, and I don't think that they are the makers of your razor.

I am happy that the Brunswick Works Bird & Co has nothing to do with Edward Bird, but can find no razors accredited to them, just silver and electroplate canteens of cutlery, table flatware and so on.

As far as I can make out, Edward Bird was never at the Brunswick Works in Union Lane, as a brief chronology shows:

1876 - formation of Practical Cutlery Co, Zebra Works, Union Lane (Walter Birch) - Edward, 7 months old in 1871 would be under 6yrs old
c1884 - Edward employed as clerk in Practical Cutlery Co
post 1884 - works alongside William Hardy at Practical Cutlery Co
post 1884 - partnership formed with William Hardy, t/a Hardy & Bird from Practical Cutlery Co premises
post 1884 - Bird and Hardy become the managers of Practical Cutlery Co in Union Street
1892 - Bird forms partnership with John Blake t/a Bird & Blake in Edward Street
1895 - Hardy & Bird partnership dissolved
1904 - Bird and Blake partnership dissolved
1905 - Bird & Co recorded as trading from Edward Street
1914 - Edward Bird & Co changed to a limited company, trading from Thomas Street
1916 - Edward dies, Edward Bird & Co defunct, Practical Cutlery Co defunct

1919 - The Practical Cutlery Co mark is revived for a short time, but soon disappears again. This time it was trading from premises in Broad Lane and producing edge tools.

The other Bird & Co trading from the Brunswick Works in Eldon Street were not there for long:

1866 - Brookes Bros, makers of engineers edge tools were at the Brunswick Works
1875 - James Rhodes, t/a a bone and shell scale handle cutter was at the Brunswick Works
1879 - John Howe, engineer and machine dealer was at Brunswick Works
1882 - Charles Dawson, table knife maker, was at Brunswick Works
1919 - Bird & Co were at the Brunswick Works
1919 - Morris Jones Rope Co acquire the Brunswick Works

So this other Bird & Co were there some time prior to 1919 and after 1882, but the only reference I can find is dated 1919.

However, I am still reasonably sure that Edward Bird is our man, as the following does actually call his company 'Bird & Co.' - but not at Brunswick Works, Union Street!



Regards,
Neil