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From: "Eric Youle" <>
Subject: [SHEFF] Roberts - Fenton
Date: 29 Jun 2003 16:14:05 +1000


G'day All

Thanks to input from Josephine, Gordon and Hugh I think I am making
progress with my research into John Roberts. At least I have a
working hypothisis. Namely that John Roberts, was a table knife
cutler, who married into the Fenton family and as such became one of
the sons involved in the management of Joseph Fenton & Sons of Eyre &
Matilda Streets.

I am postulating he came into a dowry involving "Fenton" property in
Fentonville St, Sharrow and a big house at Whiston. This property he
is reputed to have gambled away - although to be charitable it might
have been that that the proceeds of some of the sale was used to prop
up the company during the demise of the cutlery industry.

I would appriciate any further information - particularly for the
Trade directories from 1880 onwards to say 1930 - for John and his son
Jabez and in particular any indication of a connection with the Fenton
company/family.


--------------------------------------------------------------
Family Account:-
John Roberts is reputed to have been the owner (possibly) through
marriage, to a large cutlery firm, located on Eyre Street with an
office in London. The information to hand-

The Razor/Cutlery firm (just possibly Morton) was located in Eyre
Street and occuped possibly the best part of a block. This may have
been about half way down the street on the left. The company had an
office in London, and a large market in Germany for the sale of
straight razors.

At some point there arose a problem over the trademark (possibly
created by the London Office) which necesitated a change to the mark.
The new mark was not recognised in Germany resulting in a severe
decline in trade which started the demise of the company.

Possibilities are-
Butchers
Fenton and
Hobson?


I suspect the following, is the more likely explanation -

³Vigorous foreign competition and the arrival of cheaper products
also nurtured another defensive reaction in Sheffield knifernakers-an
increasing commitment to trademark defence. Sheffield complaints about
foreign makers, especially the Germans, stamping their inferior
products as 'Made in Sheffield' or using fraudulent Sheffield marks,
grew to a crescendo before 1914. In Sheffield's eyes it was bad enough
marketing cheap, trashy knives: to then illegally stamp those products
with a hallowed Sheffield mark, added insult to injury. As their blood
pressure increased, Sheffield makers pressed the government to
legislate. With the passing of the Trade Marks Act of 1875, some of
their demands for protection were met.
But the problem refused to go away. Sheffield became even more
obsessional about trademark defence, a battle which drew in the
Company of Cutlers (keen to find itself a new role after being
stripped of its power earlier in the century), the Chamber of Commerce
and many of the town's business leaders. Committees met constantly,
Parliament was lobbied, delegations were sent abroad, and funding
drives were launched. Many of the industry leaders, such as Rodgers
and Wostenholm, regularly took foreign offenders to court. Alas, it
proved largely futile. The counterfeiting of Sheffield marks continued
unabated; so too did foreign competition.
In fact, trademark defence proved to be a great blunder by the
Sheffield knifemakers and by the Company of Cutlers. No doubt, trade
marks were worth defending up to a point, but not if it meant ignoring
the real reasons for American and German success-the modernisation of
an ancient industry. Geoffrey Tweedale - The Sheffield Knife Book.

Family account:-

John Had his own factory on Eyre Street - big place covered most of
one side of road. But gambled it away. Gambled a street of houses
one time (Fentonville St - Sharrow). Lost a big house Rotherham
(Whiston). Backed horses, rode with the Norton hunt, kept greyhounds
- went to work in Hansom and trap.


1893 possibly Kelly's 1893 Leeds, Sheffield and Rotherham Directory.
Roberts John Thos. Cutlery manufacturer, see Fenton J. and Sons
which gives
Fenton J & Sons Cutlery manufacturers, 40 matilda Street also
Fenton Thomas, Cutlery Manufacturer see Fenton J &sons. Fenton's
grinding wheel, Union Lane.

It appears there were two (at least) Fenton Brothers running the
firm Thomas and William.
Thomas was living at 8 Priory Tce, Sharrow m 1891 - significantly this
was just off the end of Fentonville St.

I¹m working on the hypothisis that John Roberts joined the
management, as brother-in-law and and received a dowry of property
which he gambled away. The evidence is a bit week the marriage
certificate or Jabez¹s birth certificate could be the clincher.

NB This marriage could have been to the second wife - some time after
1901.

Joseph Fenton & Sons

Another 'old and distinguished house', 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.


Eric Youle,
Mooloolaba,
Queensland
<<<<<<<<<<<<
Genealogical databases & Sheffield Local History material @
<www.youle.id.au>
Family Trees - Youle, White, Barker, Morton, Broughton, Rolt, Bunn &
more
@ <worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/>




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