Frederick Reynolds Sheffield

Frederick Reynolds (1814-1877) was born at Derby, but had moved to Sheffield by 1841, when he was enumerated in the Census as a razor maker working at Sims Croft. This was a backstreet near the parish church (now the Cathedral). A later advertisement dated Reynolds’ firm from 1830. By 1851, he was well-established as a razor manufacturer at School Croft and employed eight men and three boys. In about 1860, he moved to Gell Street and had a workforce of fifteen men. In the 1870s, the address was Monmouth Lane, with Reynolds and his family living in Monmouth Street. He died on 22 October 1877, aged 63, and was buried in the General Cemetery. He left under £10,000. His wife, Mary Ann (c.1816-1893), was buried in the same grave. Their children included Jane (1845-1929), Andrew (1850-1931), and Richard (1856-1937). They continued the business in Monmouth Lane and at Providence Works, 116-118 Gell Street. In 1881, Andrew told the Census that the business employed thirty men and ten boys. In 1903, he withdrew from the partnership (in 1911, he was listed in the Census as a ‘cutlery manager out of work’). He died at Nether Edge Hospital on 11 October 1931, leaving £5,498. His burial was at Ecclesall. Jane and Richard remained as partners. By the First World War the firm was branching into other items of cutlery, such xylonite-handled table knives, carving knives, and forks. In 1919, Frederick Reynolds Ltd was registered as a private company, with £15,000 capital. Richard’s son, Harry (1890-1946), had now joined the business. In 1919, Harry was part of a delegation of Sheffield cutlery manufacturers who toured German factories to investigate the reasons for their commercial success. During the 1920s, Harry assumed control of the business, which apparently employed about a hundred workers. He was a well known local figure, as a town councillor and trustee of Hanover United Methodist Church. A keen motorist, he organised Sheffield Motorists’ Happy Family to provide disadvantaged children with a day at the seaside (‘Who’s Who in Sheffield’, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 5 December 1931). Jane Reynolds died on 4 September 1929, leaving £4,456. Her brother, Richard, died on 19 August 1937, aged 81 (leaving £925). By then, the firm was in financial difficulty. Reynolds’ traditional razor market would have certainly declined because of competition from safety razors, but like other companies it had to contend with the Slump. Harry attempted to diversify by patenting and selling abrasive wheels (and later motor tyres). In 1935, he launched Reynolds (Abrasive) Ltd, with £2,100 capital. However, in the following year, he wound up Frederick Reynolds Ltd and re-registered it as Frederick Reynolds (1936) Ltd, with £2,100 capital (Sheffield Daily Independent, 23 July 1936). During the Second World War, the firm was restyled again as Frederick Reynolds (Cutlers Sheffield) Ltd. Harry Reynolds died on 1 November 1946, aged 56. He was buried in Crookes cemetery, leaving £2,317. His wife, Hilda, wound up the company in 1950, after promising to pay any creditors in full (London Gazette, 17 November 1950). Reynolds’ trade mark was a cup and saucer. It also used the name Providence Cutlery Co – a reference to its factory in Gell Street.