WW11 Cutlery. Who was "LH" of Sheffield?

[Kalfred]

Hello, around the WW2 period a large amount of cutlery was made in Sheffield at the request of the government. This was mainly through the War Department for the Army and Air Ministry (RAF). The Army items carried the "Government ordered" mark, the broad arrow while the Air Ministry ones may or may not have that mark. Seemingly Birmingham was largely excluded from the cutlery manufacture. The cutlery items were dated and although some were named as made by well known companies, some did not have obvious trade marking for a specific company. This stuff keeps turning up and this post is in the hope that someone on the Forum can unmask one of these hidden wartime companies for me and others.. The company used the initials "LH" and made cutlery items including dessert spoons, forks, tablespoons and condiment spoons over the full period of the war. Who were they, before the war, during the war and after the war?  The composite image shows some marks I have stored. There are 2 with the "AM", RAF mark, some with "L.H N S" on and some with pattern numbers on. My assumption is that "NS" represents made in "nickel silver".

I hope you can come up with some suggestions for me.

Kalfred 

[SteveHB]

Quick guess

Louis Harrison, 35 Stanley Street.

https://hawleysheffieldknives.com/n-fulldetails.php?val=h&kel=936

[Kalfred]

Thank you, SteveHB for you for the suggestion and the reference. Reading the latter, the Louis Harrison concern is an obvious candidate and would have the capacity to full fill that size of Government order at that period seeing they were a wholesaling manufacturer. They are a very good option but some corroboration is needed to make it anything other than strong speculation. There is a name to work with now though, and maybe there could be more information to come. 

Kalfred    

 

[Bildeborg]

"...and made cutlery items including dessert spoons, forks, tablespoons and condiment spoons...".

At the risk of being pedantic, spoons are hollowware and forks are flatware, only knives are cutlery....but I imagine you know that?

Perhaps a trade directory of the period would answer your question. I have several here but alas they are in my loft and I have no ladder.

Jay.

[Kalfred]

Thank you Bildeborg, trade directories are where I like to research. It would  be good if there were trade directories from that period and maybe with an advert proclaiming "suppliers to His Majesty's Government from Our Stanley Street and Joiner Street Works". However I think that would fall into the wartime category of "loose lips sink ships" and invite a few Luftwaffe bombs through the roof, so I am not optimistic for precise help in this case.
Regarding terminology I have been corrected before. When I pose a question to the Forum I am kind of "narrow casting" to "knowledgeable" viewers but with any answers I want to be "broadcasting" to any person who is researching and who may have little basic knowledge of a subject. With cutlery, most Sheffield families will understand the difference but I am sure a huge number of other people would expect find forks and spoons as well as knives in their home cutlery trays. I would not regard spoons as hollowware (holloware) as where does that put makers of tankards, jugs and bowls? And with flatware, if you asked anybody in the street they would likely suggest it was the name for the bits of slate you now get your meals served on in those fancy gastro pubs.

Kalfred