peterwarr Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I need to learn whether Sheffielder Paul Richard Kuehnrich (1871-1932) became naturalised as a British citizen. Despite being born in Germany, he escaped internment or repatriation during WW1, and Geoffrey Tweedale’s writings about him (the “razor blade king of Sheffield”) leave his status unclear. Can anyone advise me about this, please, or perhaps how I can learn more? Many thanks. Peter Warr Tweedale, Geoffrey. "'The Razor Blade King of Sheffield : The Forgotten Career of Paul Kuehnrich'. Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society." Hunter Archaeological Society. 16 (1991): 39-51. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrup Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I need to learn whether Sheffielder Paul Richard Kuehnrich (1871-1932) became naturalised as a British citizen. Despite being born in Germany, he escaped internment or repatriation during WW1, and Geoffrey Tweedale’s writings about him (the “razor blade king of Sheffield”) leave his status unclear. Can anyone advise me about this, please, or perhaps how I can learn more? Many thanks. Peter Warr I have found that he got Married in 1891, If that helps. Civil Registration event: Marriage Name: KUEHNRICH, Paul Richard Registration District: Ecclesall Bierlow County: Yorkshire Year of Registration: 1891 Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep Spouse's last name: Not available before 1912 Volume No: 9C Page No: 529 MarriageFinder: Paul Richard Kuehnrich married one of the following people Edith Toothill, >>>Elise Buch,<<< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrup Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Yes he did become a Naturalised British Subject and did very well for himself. 1901 Census. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrup Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 1911 Census. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughW Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 National Archives Catalogue entry: Piece reference HO 144/1713/B16565 Scope and content Nationality and Naturalisation: Kuehnrich, Paul Richard, from Germany. Resident in Sheffield. Certificate A7997 issued 4 August 1894. Covering dates 1894; 1922 Held by The National Archives, Kew Former reference (Department) B16565 Legal status Public Record(s) Access Access conditions Closed Until 1995 Record opening date 18 Jul 1995 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 National Archives Catalogue entry: Piece reference HO 144/1713/B16565 Scope and content Nationality and Naturalisation: Kuehnrich, Paul Richard, from Germany. Resident in Sheffield. Certificate A7997 issued 4 August 1894. Covering dates 1894; 1922 Held by The National Archives, Kew Former reference (Department) B16565 Legal status Public Record(s) Access Access conditions Closed Until 1995 Record opening date 18 Jul 1995 Indeed ... http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/26548/pages/5148/page.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Suicide by shotgun in the music room of his house at Holly Court, Millhouses; aged 61. "Economic crisis". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterwarr Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 That’s fantastic! Many thanks to everyone. I had previously failed to find him on Ancestry.co.uk, and am still unable to obtain any census records for him (but they clearly exist). I must keep trying. I’ve lots of other questions and will use fresh Posts for those (and be confident of success in the light of this experience). Incidentally, the information will appear in the chapter on internment in a book I’m writing about life in Sheffield during WW1. This will acknowledge with thanks the Sheffield History Forum members! Thanks again, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Do I recall reading a story that his home was attacked during WW1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilldweller Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Do I recall reading a story that his home was attacked during WW1? I remember a story about him being forced to drain his ornamental pond because some herbert reported that he'd concealed a gun emplacement under it. HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 1893 he was living at 5 Peel Terrace, Wilkinson Street ... Yes he did become a Naturalised British Subject and did very well for himself. 1901 Census. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardS Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Should I have heard of this fella? Who was he/ how come others have heard about him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterwarr Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 He was a very successful manufacturer but, as Geoffrey Tweedale indicates (see the article edited into the first post above) he has been largely forgotten. Here's a very potted biography up to WW1. His activities since then were notable; see the article. Paul Kuehnrich (1871-1932) had come from Germany to Sheffield when he was 17, initially becoming an employee of steel and cutlery manufacturers Marsh Brothers. Travelling widely in Europe, he was a very successful salesman, and by 1906 he had moved on to create his own company. That soon expanded and brought him a fortune and high public visibility. Paul Kuehnrich was a striking bearded figure, known to many for driving to his works in one of the city’s finest carriages. Around 1912 he was wealthy enough to buy a substantial house (Holly Court) in Ecclesall, and during the next few years he became the subject of rumours, criticism and even questions in parliament. Following the 1915 anti-German riots (above), he reacted with a letter to the Sheffield Independent. He complained that “considerable mischief has been caused by certain Sheffield travellers spreading . . . . false tales over the country”: “[Allegedly] I had known already six months before the war broke out the exact date when the war would commence. I had always been a personal friend of the Kaiser, for whom I was a sort of chief spy. I had been rewarded by the Kaiser for some particularly good piece of spy work by being presented with Holly Court. I had a wireless installation. Holly Court was full of ammunition and guns were hidden there. There was enough dynamite at Holly Court to blow up the whole of Sheffield. Soldiers were being drilled by me at Holly Court on every Saturday and Sunday. The bed of the lake at Holly Court was concreted specially to carry the heavy guns. My business was financed by Krupp, and the steel which I sold was made in Germany.” The implication that such charges were ridiculous, and the letter’s absence of contradiction or criticism of Germany, did not endear Paul Kuehnrich to the Sheffield public, and he was viewed suspiciously throughout the war. He was later fined for showing a powerful light from his house and again early in 1918 after a charge of food-hoarding (69 pounds of bacon), contrary to the previous year’s prohibitions. It is not clear to what extent his image and treatment derived from his German origins, but those undoubtedly played a part in the public’s unease. I've not seen mention of his house being attacked ((see Dunsbyowl1867 above), but it seems possible from the other accusations. Perhaps someone else knows more? His activities have been described by Geoffrey Tweedale in “The razor blade king of Sheffield: The forgotten career of Paul Kuehnrich”, Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, 1991, 16, 39-51. See also several chapters of that author’s Steel City (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Some are naturally blessed with a touch of genius Richard The rest of us google the name and work it out from there. how come others have heard about him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Another one with a similar story! http://www.chrishobbs.com/sheffield/josephjonas.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardS Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Some are naturally blessed with a touch of genius Richard The rest of us google the name and work it out from there. Meow I was just making sure it wasn't some sort of forum in-thing....along the lines of Messers Waterfall or Brant-the-missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 December 1910 At the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Ranmoor, yesterday (says the Sheffield Daily Telegraph of December 29), a wedding was celebrated between Captain William S. Gardner, J. P., formerly of Aokautere (Manawatu), New Zealand, only surviving son of the late Dr. Gardner, of Painswick, Gloucestershire, and ; Miss Frieda Hidlegarde Kuehnrich, only daughter of the late Mr Robert Kuehnrich, Leipzig, Germany. The service was performed by the Rev. J. G. Williams, Vicar of Ranmoor. The bride, a very handsome girl, looked exceedingly graceful as she passed up the aisle on the arm of her brother, Mr P. R. Kuehnrich, of Highcliffe, Sheffield. She wore a beautiful wedding gown of ivory crepe de Chine, the yoke and sleeves of the corsage being composed entirely of fine Valenciennes and Irish lace, arranged over white satin. The long train was ornamented in a similar manner with beautiful lace and orange blossoms, and she wore a bridal veil of white tulle, falling from a circlet of orange blossoms in her hair. Her jewels were a diamond brooch, the gift of the bridegroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 28th April 1932. Suicide by shotgun in the music room of his house at Holly Court, Millhouses; aged 61. "Economic crisis". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Indiana Evening Gazette says he was 70 (some basic arithmetic required here methinks), but also Kuenhrich wore a flowing beard in spite of his widespread razor interests. (Sufferred heavy losses through flotation of a rustless steel corporation). Suicide by shotgun in the music room of his house at Holly Court, Millhouses; aged 61. "Economic crisis". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Interned Alien .... or not ? 1915 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardB Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Even Led Zeppelin popped in for a pint ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 She wore a beautiful wedding gown of ivory crepe de Chine, the yoke and sleeves of the corsage being composed entirely of fine Valenciennes and Irish lace, arranged over white satin. The long train was ornamented in a similar manner with beautiful lace and orange blossoms, and she wore a bridal veil of white tulle, falling from a circlet of orange blossoms in her hair. Her jewels were a diamond brooch, the gift of the bridegroom. Sound like one of your outfits Richard! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Reading this any possible internment was probably nothing to do with being German but for upsetting the great and the good of Sheffield! Wonder if he manufactured Sheep shares aswell? Sheffield Independent June 1900 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BillD Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 I found this topic whilst Googling Kuenrich. My grandfather attended the auction at Holly Court July 1932 following the suicide of P R Kuehnrich. I still have the auction catalogue and in fact am trying to identify an oil painting that might have been in the auction. It is described as by J W Callow - Coast Scene 24"x30" in Mr Kuehnrich's bedroom ! Does anybody know anything about his art purchases? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterwarr Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 I understand his art collection was in any case (before the suicide) to be auctioned to finance (some of??) his debts. I've recently received from a descendant this photo (attached) from the 1920s. A fine beard for the "razor king of Sheffield"! Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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