Cutlery & silverware industry

Records of over 100 cutlery businesses, relating to:

• production
• finance
• directors and shareholders
• sales and marketing
• workforce
• legal matter
• photographs
• company magazines

Some records date from the 17th century. However the majority cover the 19th and 20th centuries, reflecting Sheffield’s dominance of the cutlery industry during those centuries.

Contact us on archives@sheffield.gov.uk for more information, to book appointments or order archival materials.

Location of records

Most original records are available at

Sheffield Archives
52 Shoreham Street
Sheffield

However some printed annual reports, company magazines and trade catalogues and some photographs are available at the

Local Studies Library
Central Library
Surrey Street
Sheffield

Order documents

Not all archive material is stored onsite and we may require notice of the items you wish to see. Please contact us on archives@sheffield.gov.uk to confirm when we can retrieve items for you.

Copies

We can normally supply copies for private study purposes, subject to the usual copyright regulations. Please contact us for further information.

Background Information 

For a list of cutlery and silverware company records available at the Archives and Local Studies service please use the downloads at the bottom of the page.

Further reading

For more information about the Cutlery and Silverware Industry, there is a number of reading materials to look at:

• Binfield, C., and Hey, D., Mesters to Masters: A history of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire (Oxford, 1997) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 338.6 S; also available at Sheffield Archives: BIN/BUS)
• Hey, David, A History of Sheffield (Carnegie Publishing Limited, 2005) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 942.74 S; also available at Sheffield Archives: HEY/LOCAL)
• Hey, David, The Fiery Blades of Hallamshire: Sheffield and its Neighbourhood, 1660-1740 (Leicester, 1991) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 942.74 S; also available at Sheffield Archives: JEN/BUS)
• Jenkins, Clare, On the Knife Edge : the Inside Story of the Sheffield Cutlery Industry (SCL Publishing, 1989) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 683.82 S; also available at Sheffield Archives: CUT/BUS)
• Parry, David, 200 Years of Sheffield cutlery and edge tool making (Moss valley Heritage, 1985) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 683.82 SQ)
• Tweedale, Geoffrey, The Sheffield Knife Book, (Sheffield, 1996) (Sheffield Local Studies Library: 683.82 SQ)