Thread: Wm Congreaves/ Naylor and Co's Celebrated Steel

Originally Posted by Wintchase

What dog?...

Really! That's no dog! That's Wullie!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Really! That's no dog! That's Wullie!

Nuh uh.

THIS

is WULLIE!!

Charles Congreve was born in 1799. He was a partner in Naylor, Hutchinson & Vickers until 1834, when he set up on his own, first at Gell Street then (1897) at the Arundel Works.

That makes the razor fall within the reign of William IV (1830 - 1837) - he is also noted for the amount of knives he mare that bear the "WR" royal cipher.

An anti-slave trader and abolitionist, he wasn't particularly blessed for his pains - his first wife died in 1833 and the second in 1841. In 1849 he moved to America and took the place of Geo. Wostenholm's New York rep. Later he represented a fair number of english cutlers in the US. In 1855 his son joined him, and they sold english and welsh iron to the railroad makers. He died at the age of 69 in 1868.

Naylor & Sanderson were steelmakers - an uncle (William Naylor) also had a rolling mill. The start of their company is not clear, but probably was somewhere between 1790 - 1802 as Naylor's apprenticeship was not finished until 1790 and Sanderson did not get his Freedom granted by the Cutlers Guild until 1802. The Naylor family included cutler Samuel Naylor, whose pedigree goes back to the 1780s. Naylor & Sanderson made both cutlery and steel. A great amount of their table cutlery was exported to America - 5/6ths according to George Nayloe in 1812. They worked from Carver Lane and Division Street but built new crucible furnaces in 1814 in West Street. Bt 1820 the production of steel had far exceeded the cutlery side of the company. In 1829 the firm was re-organised and known as Sanderson Bros. George IV did not begin his reign until 1830, which makes it a bit awkward for them to have been the steel suppliers for your razor, Tom!

Edward Vickers, a miller, married George Naylor's daughter Anne and they had two sons - Thomas E. Vickers, born 1833 and Albert Vickers, born 1838. He and George Naylor formed Naylor Vickers, a separate entity to Naylor & Sanderson, in 1828. It was concerned solely with steel, and with the growth of the american railroad Vickers seized the chance to land a large contract, becoming senior partner in the company. It became Vickers, Sons & Co in 1867 and Vickers, sons & Maxim in 1897 - Maxim being of maxim machine gun fame - not to mention the celebrated Vickers machine gun. The original name, though, was Naylor, Vickers & Co, but it was often shortened, particularly in america, to either Naylor-Vickers or Naylor & Co., so it was probably this company that supplied the steel rather than Naylor & Sanderson.

Naylor and Co. incidently supplied the famed plough-maker John Deere with steel for his early ploughs.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks, Neil! It seems my gathered info was a bit off by at least half! Still, it was fun to dig and especially good to learn more, particularly what was happening within these companies during William's reign. So my razor might well have been a John Deere plow, eh? I suppose this monster resembles one!
Very good of you to supply this information. As to my original post, what color/type of horn and style collars do you reckon it originally came with?
I do wish to clothe it in period scales if I can find the pieces!

Again, Many Thanks,
Tom

Originally Posted by Wullie

Nuh uh.

THIS
is WULLIE!!

Now Wullie...If that ain't nice! Oh well! Fingers among friends are fingers indeed!

Originally Posted by sharptonn

...what color/type of horn and style collars do you reckon it originally came with?
I do wish to clothe it in period scales if I can find the pieces!

Again, Many Thanks,
Tom

Looks about right to - Lummus shows one here:



Looks like dark horn. Notice that having "Naylor & Cos Celebrated Steel" on the tang is taken by Lummus to advertise thir steel in America.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Now Wullie...If that ain't nice! Oh well! Fingers among friends are fingers indeed!

Horn was broke.

Originally Posted by Wullie

Nuh uh.

THIS

is WULLIE!!

Yep, you can always tell a Swede, but you can't tell him much!

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

... George IV did not begin his reign until 1830, which makes it a bit awkward for them to have been the steel suppliers for your razor, Tom!

I do believe you've gotten your beginnings and endings mixed up, Neil.

You've got a fair ways to go before you catch me in the transposition Olympics though...

Doh! You spotted a mistake Voidmonster - but lighted on the wrong bit of it! We are talking about a "WR" cipher so I meant William of course, not George! The date is correct for William.

William IV reigned from 1830 to 1837. The reign was short because William was getting on a bit in years when he ascended - 69 yrs old. His brother - George IV - had some bad luck. He married a 'commoner' (not of the Royal family) behind his fathers back, but the marriage was declared illegal and his father forced him into an arranged marriage. When he saw how ugly the bride was and smelled her (she had a habit of not washing) he declared "I am not well, pray get me a glass of brandy." The hapless fellow spent his wedding night lying on the floor in front of the fire, drunk as a lord.

So - we aren't even in the same event - I'm in the typo Olympics! We can both take Gold!

Regards,
Neil