Thread: Something not in the wiki. :)

Horrabin Brothers Sheffield, William and Samuel.

Years of operation were 1844-1867.

The brothers made Bowie type knives as well, and had an office in New York.

Information courtesy of Goins Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings.

Goins' Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings

I would love to know more about the razor, if the true historians can contribute. We also don't have a pic of this brand razor in the database. So I thought maybe if somebody with the requisite permissions wanted to add it...Here it is.

I assume this razor was shortened at some time. But the toe has been "finished" so to speak. So at least if it was done, it was done well. The only razor I ever had that honed as easily as this one was a DublDuck. This razor is awesome!! In all it's shortened glory!

Looks great. Awesome find.

Well Justin, very interesting razor with little history...............but the information you got from goins is incorrect. The Horrabin brothers were William and Samuel not Steven.
Found that all over many directories. i think perhaps your sending us on a wild goose chase!

What the heck! How'd I mess that up? lol. That little name switch up is ALL ON ME! lol. Goins says Samuel. My fault! Sorry! lol. I'll see if I can edit it.

Found their trademark as well.

Samuel Horrabin was first listed in 1817 as a pen and pocket kinife maker in Hawley Croft. By 1822, he was based in Scotland Street. By 1833, Samuel had been joined by his younger brother, William. Besides manufacturing pocket knives and sportsman's knives, they were also merchants. Their address was Red Hill Works, Radford Street.
The trademark was a picture of a Phoenix. In 1840s, the company had a New York office in John Street, through which Horrabin's marketed pocket knives and Bowies. In 1851, the firm employed 45 men - a number that had risen to 60 or 70 men by 1861. The brothers evidently prospered: William lived at Western Villa, Western Bank; Samuel at Arlingon Villa, Broomfield. Samuel died on 9 January 1874, aged 66. William died on 14 January 1878, aged 78.
W. & S. Horrabin was listed at Red Hill Works until the 1880s, when the business moved to Argyle Works in nearby Hollis Croft. It was liquidated in 1884, when the owners were Samuel Horrabin (William's son, born c.1830) and Maurice Bocking. The Phoenix mark was then used by John Baker in Wheeldon Street

William & Samuel Horrabin, Sheffield.

Also found another razor marked Horrabin, Red Hill Works, Sheffield, and a bankruptcy notice.

Originally Posted by Martin103

Also found another razor marked Horrabin, Red Hill Works, Sheffield, and a bankruptcy notice.

I am SUCH a sucker for the double thumb-notch.

Originally Posted by Martin103

Well Justin, very interesting razor with little history...............but the information you got from goins is incorrect. The Horrabin brothers were William and Samuel not Steven.
Found that all over many directories. i think perhaps your sending us on a wild goose chase!

The razor i've got has, very clearly only one R in Horabin, any ideas?

Originally Posted by brooksie967

The razor i've got has, very clearly only one R in Horabin, any ideas?

Very odd, Brooksie! Though not that odd - there are a few about:





Both Samuel, William and Samuel jnr all have their name as 'Horrabin' with two r's in birth, death and census records, for example, probate on Samuel's death:



But there are other variants of this surname (attributable to other families, not this one) such as Horabin, Horobin, Harabin etc - some even have two variants recorded, but this usually follows a mistake by the registrar filling in the birth or death register, and this is not the case here.

The only thing that springs to mind is that they paid for the tang stamp to be made before noticing the mistake, but decided to use it anyway?!

Regards,
Neil