Beazley Thimble Box

[Kalfred]

Hello, I took a copy image of silver auction lot listed on line, for an up coming  N.E. England auction. Silver thimbles had less interest for me than the thimble box with the Sheffield address on the inside silk.

 

I read the silk to say "Raymond Beazley Jeweller & Co " and clearly of Sheffield. An simple Google check followed up with a look at "Sheffield Indexers" produced  White's Directory of Sheffield & Rotherham entries for 1901, 1905 and 1911 indicating Raymond Beazley was a watch maker at 8 Sharrow Lane. In 1911 his home address was 66 Bannerdale Road and there was also an entry in 1925 Kelly's Sheffield & Rotherham Directory for him as a "watch maker" just at that same home address. Of interest, also in Kelly's 1925 directory at 8 Sharrow Lane there was a "Arthur Raymond Beazley" also a watchmaker'. This may have been the "&Co" period when that box and contents were retailed by the company. I do not think that the company would have made the thimble. 
This association of watch maker and jeweller was very common particularly as pocket watches began to be worn less after the WW1.
Have any members of the Forum got more to add to this little bit of Sheffield History?

Kalfred 

 

[Edmund]

[Kalfred]

Thank you Edmund for the image and additional information shown.

Kalfred

[Sadbrewer]

Beazley was born in Middlesex in 1860, his name was also spelt Beasley. His father was a hosier by trade.

In 1885 he marries Ada Evans, he was a watchmaker at 41 Havelock St.

In the 1891 census he was a watchmaker at 61 Sharrow St. He appears to move to 8 Sharrow Lane around 1895.

Arthur Raymond b1888 was one of his sons, Arthur served in Egypt in the RAF in WW1. He died in 1936. George Edward b 1891 d 1897 was another.