Joseph Fenton and Sons Manufacturer

This page is intended to list a straight razor manufacturer with all his information.

Manufacturer: Joseph Fenton & Sons[1]

Other Names: Thomas Fenton, William Fenton. John Roberts as one of the Sons (married to one of Joseph Fenton daughter).

Dates in Production: 1797 to at least 1919

Location: Sykes Works, Eyre St., Sheffield

Steel: Sheffield

Type: Straight Razors, Cutlery, Knives





B&B Reviews:


Notes of Interest:

• Fenton J & Sons Cutlery Manufacturers, 40 matilda Street
• Fenton Thomas, Cutlery Manufacturers see Fenton J & Sons. Fenton's grinding wheel, Union Lane.
• This firm was founded by Joseph Fenton in 1795 and for many years was situated in Scotland Street. The company mark, a Maltese Cross with the letters W W (one inverted above the other), was granted in 1796. In the early 1870s, the business moved to the Sykes Works on Matilda Street and Eyre Street. The contemporary trade press, in its customary deferential tones, describes Fenton's Works as 'commodious', 'wellappointed', with machinery of the 'most elaborate and effective character'. Apparently, the factory was amongst the larger of the cutlery firms in Sheffield, with about 300-400 workers in the early 1890s. A three-storied block of workshops, powered by a steam-engine, produced Fenton's specialities: table- and butchers'-knives, pocket-knives and files. Sportsman's knives, Bowies, dirks and other hunting-knives were displayed in the firm's showrooms.
• They traded throughout the UK, and also shipped overseas to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and China. Ireland seems to have been a particularly important market for the firm in the late nineteenth century. By the 1890s, Thomas Fenton directed the business. In 1968, this company merged with Gregory Bros to become Gregory Fenton Ltd. By the 1990s the address of this firm was the Beehive Works in Milton Street.[2]

References

1. ^Uniclectica
2. ^Rootsweb Fenton's History