Sheffield knife-makers: More cutlery history unearthed

Cutlery has been made in the city since the 13th Century, long before steel was made there from 1700

More than 100 people have answered an online plea for more information about knife-makers from the steel city of Sheffield.

The Name on a Knife Blade project found new stories and unrecorded knives made in the South Yorkshire city after its search for descendants in September.

One man even donated his own personal collection of Sheffield-made blades.

The Ken Hawley Collection now has about 1,500 stainless steel knives made by about 1,000 different makers.

Nick Duggan, an archive volunteer, said: "We have had a staggering 110 people contact us with a story about their ancestor being involved and we had many Sheffield-made knives donated."

The online archive has given "a new momentum to the search and has taken it world-wide", added Mr Duggan.

Caroline Sage, a descendant of cutlery-maker George Bishop, told the archive how three generations of her family were named after a special pattern called Iviene.

"My daughter, my mother and my grandmother were all named after the cutlery.

"My grandma, who was George Bishop's granddaughter, was named Iviena after the [decorative] pattern. Sharing the information about our family's link was a nice thing to do."

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Cutlery from George Bishop bearing the Iviena pattern led to an unusual family name

Dr Richard Brown donated more than 70 examples that yielded 11 knives by previously unknown Sheffield makers, said Mr Duggan.

Another nine were by known makers for which the archive had no example of their work, he added.

Dr Brown, originally from London, amassed his collection during several years of combing antique shops.

"There are still a large number of manufacturer's buildings still around in the city, even though most have long since ceased to operate", said Dr Brown.

Ken Hawley's collection, amassed since the 1950s, has more than 100,000 objects from Sheffield's tool, cutlery and silversmithing industry.

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