George Barnsley and Sons - Kelham Island

[Sheffield History]

 

 

 

Stumbled upon this building yesterday for the first time whilst in the Kelham Island area 

What do we know about George Barnsley and Sons?

 

 

[tozzin]

George Barnsley & Sons Cornish Works on Cornish Place (the building was there when I took the photo last year) The founder of the firm, George Barnsley was born on the 2nd of March 1810, his family like hundreds of other families were in the trade of making or producing cutlery in all its many aspects. He started a file making firm on Wheeldon Street in Brookhill at the young age of 26 in 1836,I think this area was known as Cornhill, at this time George was living at 249 Allen Street, this area again is a terrible accumulation of flats and apartments, Wheeldon Street works has been architecturally cleansed by our short sighted councils over the years, I did find George in the Sheffield and Birmingham Directory of 1839 under a misspelt name of Barnesley. By 1851 at the age of 41 years he moved into a factory on Cornish Street just more or less opposite to the works of James Dixon, he must have had his “head screwed on right” as we say for his product range was vastly improved to include steel files, shoe and butchers knives, his leather working knives were sought after because of the high quality of their manufacture, according to my bible, the Geoff Tweedale’s History of Sheffield Cutlery Manufacturers, George Barnsley fathered two sons George and Arthur, George Jnr was born in 1837 and joined the firm at the age of fourteen as a traveller by 1858 he was made a partner of the business at the young age of twenty one years, just thirteen years later the firm had around 135 employees, sadly on the 27th of May 1874 George senior died at his home at 32 Oxford Street at the age of 64, at this time Arthur was still living with his parents on Oxford Street but tragedy struck when Arthur lost his fight for life at the young age of 38 on the 30th of July 1889.
George Jnr took over the firm and during his seat at the helm he became a Town Councillor, Alderman, J.P. and Master Cutler, his successful life came to an end on the 3rd of June 1895 at his home, Oakvale, 33 Collegiate Crescent, he joined his father in Fulwood Churchyard. His son Henry took control of the business after the death of his father. The dawning of the twentieth century it  got significantly harder to compete in the cut-throat market but Barnsley’s were not alone many of their competitors were in the same boat, every day was a constant struggle to produce quality products for customers who requested a reduction in price something that couldn’t always be done, as I’ve mentioned before many manufacturers in the town resisted new methods and plant that would have improved production as they were reluctant to spend money which would have saved more money in the long run. By the late forties, the employees which numbered around 100, had gone down week upon week, in 1958 the firm acquired Ball Brothers, in the early 1970s key management and employees had left and just a few short years later only a handful of workers occupied the large building, the works closed in 2004 ending the production of quality tools and knives in Sheffield. Colonel George Barnsley died at his home at No 30 Collegiate Crescent in 1958.  He lived there with his wife Mabel and mother-in-law Elizabeth. The business was converted into a limited company about 10 years before his death.  He had a long army career, joining in 1896 and serving in the Boer war and two world wars.  Colonel Barnsley played a leading part in the development of the Army Cadet Force in Sheffield. He died at the age of 83 on the 30th March 1958, he was the grandson of George the founder of the firm  
A further peek into our past, in the early 19th century, the distresses of the poor were so urgent that they riotously attacked the meal and flour sellers shops and held  meetings to discuss their grievances. In January 1801, flour was both dear and bad owing to a wet harvest, in March a well known “badge” and money broker, Michael Raybould of Snig Hill informed the public through the medium of the Town - Cryer, that he had on sale “good old flour at ten shillings and sixpence per stone”. On January 21st 1802 the town was visited by a dreadful storm of wind, during which the slates were torn from the roofs and scattered through the streets with such violence it was perilous to pass them. A stack of chimneys fell in St James Street and through a roof of an adjoining house and overwhelmed a bed from which four persons had just risen, a sheet of lead weighing about 2,000 pounds, was precipitated from the flat roof of the Tontine Inn, into the yard immediately after the Doncaster mail coach had just set out and landed on the very spot where it had stood. A child was crushed to death at Sheffield Moor by a falling wall, in the Wicker three high chimneys at Mr Dixons silver refinery were laid to the ground. On May 25th the thermometer was at 29 degrees below the freezing point and much damage was done to vegetation.
This report is not in my words but the words of the report at that time, so much more eloquent than today’s written word. 
The house in the photo is or was George Barnsley’s on Collegiate Crescent.
 

[winco1960]

George Barnsley's is a popular destination for urban explorers across the country.

If you search through "28 days later" or "Derelict Places" there are some great interior pictures done over the years.