Sometimes, the only evidence is circumstantial.
Like most of the razors I’ve gotten, these came from eBay. In fact, all the razors in this post went through eBay. These put me in the unusual situation of having both too much and too little information, so all I can really do is lay out what I’ve learned and display the evidence.
Coming Attractions
Life has been a little too chaotic over the last four months for me to get much done on this blog, but I haven’t stopped finding interesting old razors and loads of information. I’ll be resuming activity here shortly, but until then let this act as a little preview of what’s to come.
No words or descriptions, just pictures.
Edward Allison
Edward Allison and his wife Mary had a daughter, Catherine, in September 1819. Catherine’s baptism record lists her father as a razorsmith, but he doesn’t appear in any of the business directories until late 1820 when Pigot lists him as a Razor manufacturer and operator of the tavern The Barrel. Both the tavern and the razor manufacturing were in Little Sheffield.
Hawcroft & Pearson
Hawcroft & Pearson are first listed as operating from Eldon street in 1834. It’s hard to say if that’s when the business was founded.
The Watchmaker’s Circle
Benjamin Huntsman wanted to make better watch springs. He went to great lengths to do it, supposedly burying his failed experiments so no one else would find them.