Stan Shaw | |
|---|---|
 Shaw (furthest right) at his workshop in the Kelham Island Museum | |
| Born | 2 December 1926 |
| Died | (aged 94) |
| Occupation | Knife maker |
| Spouse | Rosemary Shaw |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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Stan Shaw (2 December 1926 - 26 February 2021) was a cutler, or "little mester", from Sheffield, England.
Shaw was born in Worrall, Sheffield to Walter Shaw and Amelia Shaw (nee Coldwell). [1] He was one of eight children. His family later moved to Oughtibridge. His father was a ganister miner and died from silicosis at the age of 45. At the age of four, Shaw fell from a roof and landed on his hip. He subsequently also became ill with tuberculosis and spent ten years in hospital. [2]
Following discharge from hospital, Shaw began working for George Ibberson & Co, where he worked on hafting and finishing items of cutlery. Shaw subsequently worked for George Wostenholm, John Watts, and John Clarke. In 1983, Shaw set up his own business in Garden Street. [3] In 2009, he moved to a workshop within the Kelham Island Museum. [4] Towards the end of his career, he had a four-year waiting list for orders. [5] [6]
Shaw stopped producing knives in 2019 due to ill health but continued to demonstrate his craftmanship to the public at the Kelham Island Museum. He died on 26 February 2021, at the age of 94. [7] A commorative plaque by sculptor Gordon Young was installed outside Cutlers' Hall in 2022. [8] [9]
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its southern suburbs were transferred from Derbyshire to the city council. It is the largest settlement in South Yorkshire.
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away in the Broomhall Estate off Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield. A third campus at Brent Cross Town in the London Borough of Barnet is expected to open for the 2025–26 academic year.
Cutlery includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffield in England has been famous for the production of cutlery since the 17th century and a train – the Master Cutler – running from Sheffield to London was named after the industry. Bringing affordable cutlery to the masses, stainless steel was developed in Sheffield in the early 20th century.
The Kelham Island Museum is an industrial museum on Alma Street, alongside the River Don, in the centre of Sheffield, England. It was opened in 1982.
The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire is a trade guild of metalworkers based in Sheffield, England. It was incorporated in 1624 by an act of Parliament. The head is called the Master Cutler. Its motto is French: Pour Y Parvenir a Bonne Foi, lit. 'To Succeed through Honest Endeavour'.
Worrall is a small rural village in the civil parish of Bradfield, South Yorkshire, England, 4 miles (6.5 km) north west of Sheffield city centre. It has an area of 233 hectares, and population of 1,306 as of 2006, and borders the Sheffield suburbs of Wadsley, Middlewood and Loxley to the south and east and the adjoining village of Oughtibridge to the north; to the west is a rural area extending towards the village of High Bradfield.
Benjamin Huntsman was an English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel.
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The history of Sheffield, a city in South Yorkshire, England, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement in a clearing beside the River Sheaf in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. The area now known as Sheffield had seen human occupation since at least the last ice age, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the city did not occur until the Industrial Revolution.
The Master Cutler is the head of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire established in 1624. Their role is to act as an ambassador of industry in Sheffield, England. The Master Cutler is elected by the freemen of the company on the first Monday of September of each year and the position taken in the first Tuesday of October. Despite the title, the Master Cutler does not have to be involved in the cutlery business, or even the steel industry, to be elected.
This timeline of Sheffield history summarises key events in the history of Sheffield, a city in England. The origins of the city can be traced back to the founding of a settlement in a clearing beside the River Sheaf in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. The area had seen human occupation since at least the last ice age, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the city did not occur until the Industrial Revolution.
David Rogerson Mellor was an English designer, manufacturer, craftsman and retailer.
Viners is a United Kingdom brand of cutlery, kitchenware and dinnerware products, founded in 1901 in Sheffield, England by Adolphe Viener and his sons. By the 1960s, it had expanded to subsidiaries in Ireland, Australia and France. In mid-2000, Oneida, of the United States, paid $25 million in cash for Viners which was put into administration on 30 October 2014. Merseyside-based Rayware, a privately owned housewares group, bought Viners out of administration for £1.6 million in November 2014 and in 2015 set about "reinvigorating the brand".
Randall Made Knives, usually referred to as Randall, is an American custom handcrafted knife manufacturer founded by Walter Doane "Bo" Randall, Jr. in the U.S. The knife making shop and showroom is located in Orlando, Florida. Randall began making knives as a hobby in 1937. His son and grandson continue the family trade along with 20 craftsmen producing about 8,000 knives per year out of a shop on South Orange Blossom Trail.
A little mester is a self-employed worker who rents space in a factory or works from their own workshop. They were involved in making cutlery or other smallish items such as edge tools. The term is used almost exclusively to describe the craftsmen of the Sheffield area, and is mostly archaic as this manner of manufacture peaked in the 19th century and has now virtually died out. Little mesters either worked alone or employed a small number of workers and/or apprentices.
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Leah's Yard is a former collection of small industrial workshops situated on Cambridge Street in the city centre of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. The building has been designated as a Grade II* listed building because of its importance as an example of Sheffield's industrial heritage and is currently undergoing a significant restoration to bring it back into use.
Gordon Young is a British artist specialising in public art, often including typographical elements. His Comedy Carpet on Blackpool Promenade (2011), at 2,200m2, has been said to be the largest piece of public art in Britain.
Ken HawleyMBE was a British tool specialist and industrial historian: he was a tool retailer, collector of tools and authority on the history of Sheffield manufacturing trades. He amassed what is recognised as one of the most significant collections of its type in the world. The Hawley Collection is now housed at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield, England.
Beaver Falls Cutlery Company, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, is a former company which manufactured steel cutlery, razors and pocketknives. The company was founded as Binns & Mason in 1866 by skilled cutlers from Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, as a small enterprise making pocketknives in Rochester, Pennsylvania, then it briefly became The Pittsburgh Cutlery Company. It was purchased in 1867 by the Harmony Society, brought to Beaver Falls, and developed for mass production, to employ 300 people and to cover a two-acre site. In 1872 it suffered a labor dispute which was resolved by the employment of up to 225 Chinese workers. In 1876 it produced the "largest knife and fork in the world," of its time, for display at the Centennial Exposition. The company closed in 1886.