Thread: More help, a unknown maker wilson hull

There are certainly a lot of razor makers associated with Sheffield and the close, outlying district, but I haven't been able to find one in Hull. Here is a short list of the Sheffield makers:

Thomas Wilson, born 1796, recorded as a razor maker in 1841 living in Norwich St., Sheffield

George Wilson, born 1779, recorded as a razor smith living in 1851 living in Ecclesall Bierlow in 1851, recorded as razor smith in 1841 living in Hallam

Frederick Wilson, born 1803, recorded as a razor maker in 1851. living in Hallam in 1841

John Wilson, born 1811, recorded as a razor smith in 1841 living in North Sheffield and a razor blade forger living in Sheffield in 1861

John Wilson, born 1812, recorded as a razor smith lving in Ecclesall Bierlow in 1851 and Nether Hallam in 1861 and as a razor smith cutter in 1881

Joseph Wilson, born 1813, recorded as a razor smith living in Eccleshall Bierlow in 1851

Note that I have excluded all those listed as 'razor grinders' (they were not makers), haft makers, scale pressers, scale cutters, butchers knife and blade makers, pocket/penknife.spring-knife/bowie knife makers and all those I arbitrarily judge as being too late in the timeline.

Most of the names are pulled from census records, where birthplace and residence at the time of the census are quoted - not one of them is shown as anywhere near Hull.

There may be others whose listings I have not found (quite probable!) and others not especially noted for being razor makers. The blade looks like a quality blade and a Sheffield forging, but there is no makers mark on the blade - just a name. This mostly happens when a cutler or dealer is offered a number of razors at a reduced price by a traveller/agent for a noted Sheffield maker (a common practice), but with the dealers own name stamped on the blade. Hence no makers mark.

The scales are quality items - bone inlaid with silver pins - known as 'piquet' work (this is a subdivision of the piquet work carried out on tortoiseshell and horn, where the metal object was heated, melted its position into the scale and adhered to it). The holes did not penetrate the full width of the scale. It appears that the a pattern - a piece of card or similar with holes in it - was placed on the scale, the holes marked, drilled shallowly and a very thin annealed silver pin snipped of a coil and inserted. Slight hammering expanded the pin in the hole. Some people think a glue might have been used, others think it was just the silver being very soft from annealing it and hammering it to make it slightly wider. I have seen a number of examples where pins have fallen out - there doesn't seem to be any trace of glue in the holes, though.

It was a highly skilled occupation, and sets of scales were bought in from specialists usually. In fact it seems that most of the scale-making in Sheffield in the 1700s and 1800s was done by people who specialised in just that work - they sawed mother of pearl, ivory, etc while others formed sheets from horn which was bought by others who moulded it into shape or pressed patterns into it. The 'setters-in' in the razor makers premises set the blades into these scales. Occasionally we find one man responsible for all aspects of the blade, from forging and grinding to setting in, (ie a 'little mester') but scale making nearly always seems to be outsourced to another party. The exceptions are the really big firms like Rodgers who could afford to keep an enormous workforce on the premises.

Regards,
Neil