Thomas Staniforth
Thomas Staniforth (c.1767-1828) was a pen and pocket knife cutler. His early life has not been traced, but he may have been the Thomas Staniforth listed in 1797 at Smithfield as a manufacturer of pen and pocket knives, and also ‘wood and brass pocket stampt knives’. At about this time, Thomas Staniforth formed a cutlery partnership with William Bowman. The latter is easy to identify, as the apprenticeship rolls of the Company of Cutlers only list one William Bowman: he was a pawnbroker at Church....
