Thread: Captain ARAD, meet Captain Cox: A Haywood 7 day set in ivory.

Oh friends. Oh, this set. This is the kind of thing that gets me out of the bed every morning. There are stories within stories in this set.

This will be necessarily incomplete because I have a mountain of research to do yet, but I'll get you through the basics.

To begin with, it took exactly 6 days to get from Plymouth England to Oceanside California. I've never gotten an international shipment so quickly (other than that clandestine absinthe that was shipped via courier, but that's for another time entirely).

Right there, in that first picture, is one part of the story. The cutlery part -- Joseph Haywood. Haywood was born back in the early days of the Sheffield explosion, 1822, and apprenticed young. There's a lot of in and around and about with uncles and mothers, but the end result is that in 1845 Haywood was selling his own goods. Edge tools, files, the usual Sheffield cutlery business. He also owned the mark for George W. Hinchliffe, who was probably his uncle. He moved around. The address listed here:



Dates the set firmly after 1880.

And what a set it is. Despite not being very far up the hierarchy of fancy goods for the time, it was definitely not cheap item.



I've wanted a razor with a worked spine like that for a long time, and now I suddenly find I have seven of them. And I'm going to have to hone all of them. Crap.

They're in the state I got them in, minus a mountain of dust and the little bit of oxidation I sanded off the days of the week (and there's a reason I do this -- I sanded oxidation off the DAYS OF THE WEEK! ABSTRACT CONCEPTS CAN BE SANDED!)

The box needed to be glued back together -- which was quick and easy to fix -- but the leather desperately needs to be reconditioned or somehow at least stabilized. I'm not very keen to do super fancy restoration on any of this, but I'll get to that soon enough.



Haywood's teakettle logo charms me. I can't help it.



I wish the velvet were in better condition, because that's a lovely shade of blue. Just imagine your own David Lynch joke here. It'll be at least as good as whatever I come up with, probably better.



This set was loved. Note that one odd man out with the brass pin (Thursday, for those keeping score). That one was repaired, and I think the scales were replaced, but they're nearly an exact copy of all the others. It was a very good, very careful repair.

And speaking of the scales...

(cont'd)

Seven sets of ivory scales...



Two non-critical cracks (Monday and Tuesday).



And the blades are all in good shape too. I complain about needing to hone them all, but I don't think they're going to take much honing. They cut a few hairs as it is. I haven't measured them, but they're generously sized. I don't think a full 7/8, but probably more than 6/8.



And here's the other stories. Captain Cox. That engraving is why I bought the set, it's why I was on pins & needles waiting for it to arrive, hoping it wasn't damaged in transit or destroyed by customs (that's a lot of ivory, there!)

This is also the mountain of research.

Here's where I stand at the moment.

I begin with the delicate assumption that since I got the set from Plymouth, England, I'd begin narrow by assuming that was the home port of Captain Cox. I know he had to have been a captain after 1881. From there, I pull these names out of Lloyd's Registers:

• COX, Benjamin b. Somerset 1850 C03288 Plymouth 1880 vol.30 1880-1887; vol.45 1888-1890, 1892-1895; vol.60 1896-1903; vol.75 1904-1911
• COX, Benjamin John b. Romney 1843 C0639 Plymouth 1875 vol.17 1875-1879; vol.30 1880-1887; vol.45 1888-1894; vol.60 1896-1899; vol.75 no voyages listed
• COX, George Rochefort b. Plymouth 1859 C08346 Plymouth 1866 Extra vol.30 1877; vol.45 1888-1895; vol.60 1896-1903; vol.75 1904
• COX, Richard Myles b. Newport 1857 C08988 Plymouth 1884 vol.30 1884-187; vol.45 1888-1895; vol.60 1896-1901, 1903; vol.75 1904-1908, 1910
• COX, Robert A b. Kent 1841 C32105 Plymouth 1867 vol.3 1867-1873; vol.17 1874-1879; vol.30 1880-1887; vol.45 1889-1894
• COX, Samuel b. Brixham 1844 C33783 Plymouth 1868 vol.3 1868-1873; vol.17 1875, 1878-1879; vol.30 1880, 1886-1887; vol.45 1888-1892; vol.60 no voyages listed
• COX, Thomas b. Dorset 1840 C82335 changed to 027726 Plymouth 1868 vol.3 1869-1873; vol.17 1874-1879; vol.30 1880-1887; vol.45 1888-1894; vol.60 no voyages listed

The first part after the name is where and when they were born, the C##### part is their certificate number and all the rest points to where their voyages are recorded in the insurance registers.

It's doubtful I'll be able to figure out which of these men owned the set. It may have been none of them, these represent only a portion of the commercial captains sailing at the time. But it's fun research. Richard Myles Cox is the one I've dug up the most information on so far (I have scans of his certificates, census data and a bit more). But most interesting is this crew list from an Australian voyage.

By the name plate I assume this set was probably given to him by his crew. My thinking is that an employer or family would've put his first name or at least initial. Just the last name and his title makes it seem to me like a gift moving up the social ladder rather than across or down.

This is the kind of stuff I live for.

awesome! That is a magnificent set!

Beautiful set, the spines are incredible!

Not that I'm envious or anything...

I'm wondering if the maker wasn't SRP member Gary Haywood's great-great grandfather ?

Great set Zak, every time I think you'll never top the last one .......

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm wondering if the maker wasn't SRP member Gary Haywood's great-great grandfather ?

Great set Zak, every time I think you'll never top the last one .......

Joseph had a passel of kids, including several sons. Did Gary's folks come across the sea?

A great set of razors, with a story to tell. Thank you for taking the time to document it for us to enjoy. Keep us posted on the shave results.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

A great set of razors, with a story to tell. Thank you for taking the time to document it for us to enjoy. Keep us posted on the shave results.

I most definitely will update with how they shave!

My wife wasn't too keen on me putting a balance board in to really fully simulate the maritime experience for some reason...

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

Joseph had a passel of kids, including several sons. Did Gary's folks come across the sea?

Gary is a pro barber in Great Britain. I don't recall what part of the isle he is from. Probably a lot of Haywoods in the world. Chances are , no relation, but it would really be something if it turned out that he was.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Gary is a pro barber in Great Britain. I don't recall what part of the isle he is from. Probably a lot of Haywoods in the world. Chances are , no relation, but it would really be something if it turned out that he was.

I spent a bunch of quality time with the fancy genealogy site I'm spending a buttload of money on in order to dig up razor stuff and turned it on my family. Since my grandfather was a Shaw who grew up in Kansas City, and there was a Shaw Barber supply in Wichita, I figured it'd be worth seeing if they were related. Nope.

Also not related, the branch of the Sheffield John Shaw (of cutlery fame) who moved to the states. The Shaws related to me have been here for-bloody-ever, including the awesomely named SALMON SHAW (1794-1854). My great-great-great-great-grandfather was named after a fish!