25 Lawson Road Home of John Wingfield Jnr Cutlery Manufacturer

May 1, 2023

The highly polished bell push can be seen on the doorway of 25 Lawson Road, in 1879 it was the home of John Wingfield Jnr, he was the grandson of John Wingfield, cutlery manufacturer, one of the partners in the firm listed below, in his book Geoff Tweedale states that this well respected family were originally from Ecclesfield and had connections with Butterthwaite Hall, in the 1787 directory a John Wingfield was residing in Holles-Croft (original spelling not a typo) and he was described as a gentleman, a man of private means, could this Wingfield be the grandfather of the dynasty, John Wingfield Snr was a partner in the firm of Hoult, Rowbotham, Wingfield & Wade, in 1816 the firm was producing high class cutlery in Tenter Street, in 1818 John Hoult left the business, he had been the Master Cutler in 1813, upon his departure the firm was run by John Rowbotham, John Wingfield Snr and Richard Wade, they were famous for their table cutlery and they didn’t have a purpose built factory, they just took a few cottages and turned them into workshops and John Wingfield Snr built a house with a large garden attached to remind him of the countryside around the village of Ecclesfield, the house stood on the corner of what is now Radford Street, now nearly lost to terrible buildings. In 1825 the firm had changed or re-arranged its name to Wade, Wingfield & Rowbotham, John Wingfield of Butterthwaite and John Rowbotham of Portobello were the partners, on the 18th of March 1829 died at Butterthwaite, he was 62 years old and he was buried in Ecclesfield, he joined his son Edward who died age 14 on the 12th of May 1822.
His son, John, had joined the firm after he left school , John Jnr, was a natural at business, he was acclaimed as one of the most successful and hardworking travellers in the town, the firm was now making a good return for the partners, by 1841 John Rowbotham was living in Gell Street and had three servants he left this life aged 52 in 1851, by then Wade had retired to the country in Totley, then on to Boston Spa, where he breathed his last on the 20th of March 1867, aged 81, in his will he left £60,000 to be shared among his three daughters. 1851 saw a new partnership with Wingfield & Rowbotham, Henry Colley, in the 1860s Directories both Wingfield`s, father & son were living in Butterthwaite and Colley at Taptonville.
The business was that of general merchant and the making and selling of cutlery and edge tools but it also had the wherewithal to produce to produce their own steel, in the 1845 directory, Wade, Wingfield, and Rowbotham, are described as merchants, and table, pen, pocket knife, razor, and file manufacturers, at 82 Tenter Street, saw manufacturing business seems to have been based at 82 Arundel Lane, and steel converters, was on North Church Street, the Tenter Street premises covered a large area, over an acre, but it was housed in early nineteenth century two and three storied buildings, even though they produced world class goods, the shops they were produced in were deplorable, cold in winter, hot in summer, no dust extraction and dangerous machinery, the 1871 census shows us that the entry made by John Wingfield, he states that he had 264 workers, comprising of 202 men, 25 women and 37 boys, the workforce produced goods destined for around the globe, they had a very good market in Australia, where they had an agent in Sydney.
In 1871, John Jnr had moved to 22 Collegiate Crescent, he retired shortly after and he died on the 20th of December 1886 at the age of 87, he joined his father in the Ecclesfield cemetery, his loving wife Sarah had died on the 28th of November 1885, he left £53,970 in his will, John Wingfield Junior’s sons, one named after his father and grandfather, John, (he’s the one that lived in No 25 Lawson Road) his brother, William Henry, was living at Alresford House, which is now just plain 2 Sale Hill, his home was just the next road to brother John, in 1885, John Hunt, a relative of Rowbotham along with the two brothers took overall control of the business, by the 1881 census the firm employed 395 workers. By the onset of the 1890s the business was not as successful as it had been, it was stated by the managers of Christopher Johnsons that it was common knowledge in the trade that the Wingfield firm had been losing money over the years and its seems the two brothers had very little left of the fortune their father left them, the losses incurred by the firm was mainly because of trying to undercut competitors and setting low prices for their goods.
John died in the last week of October 1898 while he was in Southport, he too was buried on the 1st of September in Ecclesfield, he was 60 years old, The business was sold to Thomas Turner they bought solely for its trade and silver marks, the old production shops were sold, the prospectus that was distributed on the sale of the Tenter Street and White Croft premises, contained warehouses, forging hearths, cutlers shops, engine and boiler house, plus a 12-hole crucible steel furnace, despite the selling off of these premises Thomas Turner continued to list Wingfield, Rowbotham name at their premises at 1 Suffolk Road into the 1920s., they had Turner Lane named after the works

The last photo shows the Howard Street, premises include No 36, Wingfield Rowbotham, Cutlery Manufacturer, No 38/40, C. H. Harrington and Co. Ltd., Sheet Metal Workers, No 44, T.H. and N. Perkins, Bakers, No 46, Mary Gentle Cafe