Makers & Designers

John Turton (c.1818-1872) was active by 1849 as a spring knife maker in Meadow Street. Later he lived at Walkley and by 1871 was a dealer in cutlery and electro-plate in Market Street. He died at Carr Road on 17 April 1872, aged 54, leaving under £1,000. He was buried in Fulwood. ‘John Turton’ was next listed at Times Buildings, Bow Street. Turton’s widow, Harriet, probably continued the business. In 1891, she described herself as a ‘retired cutlery merchant’, with her sons – Albert and Edgar – as cutlery travellers. She died in 1895 and her sons had apparently retired by 1898.

John Turton & Co (presumably the same firm) was listed at Australian Works, Malinda Street, in 1901. The partners were Herbert Edward Buxton (1863-1930) and Harry England Bridgwater (1873-1949). Buxton had been born in Dore, the son of a schoolmaster and civil registrar. Bridgwater had been born in Stourbridge, the son of a spade and shovel plater. In 1904 and 1905, the firm registered silver marks from Kendal Works, Arundel Street. In 1910, it was registered as a private limited company (share capital £7,500). Turton’s manufactured (or marketed) stainless steel and electro-plated cutlery, and later specialised in hotel cutlery. In the interwar period, Kendal Works was located in Carver Street, where it added teapots to its range. Advertisements claimed an establishment date of 1800. H. E. Buxton, Hartington Road, Millhouses, died on 1 October 1930, leaving £5,288. He was buried at Norton Cemetery.

Bridgwater continued as managing director. A city councillor, he was a prominent spokesperson on trade matters and regularly publicised his company. At the British Industries Fair (1933) at London and Birmingham, the firm exhibited its latest lines in pewterware and silver-mounted china and earthenware. A journalist noted: ‘The small case-sets of cutlery are attractive both in price and design; and the ‘Weldanka’ stainless and ‘Delphinium’ table ware will make any woman’s heart leap for joy’ (Sheffield Independent, 21 February 1933). When Bridgwater was interviewed for a feature in The Sheffield Daily Independent Industrial Supplement, 30 December 1937, he had recently returned from a trip to South Africa. He commented that a ‘very encouraging new feature in our trade this year has been the tremendous demand for spoons and forks, especially of the fine and durable quality’. In cutlery, however, he highlighted competition and price-cutting from cheaper manufacturers in places such as Birmingham.

Harry Bridgwater, of Rushley Road, Dore, died in 1949, aged 75. He left £12,204. In the 1950s, Turton’s moved from Carver Street to Scotland Street. The trade mark was ‘BUXBRIDGE’. The firm had an agent in South Africa. It was listed in directories until the 1970s. In 1978, John Price of Arthur Price bought the former Turton premises in Scotland Street.