William Oates
Oates was in business by 1865 in Monmouth Street and advertised in the local directory. Sardine Works targeted a niche market: can-opener knives. An advertisement in 1876 shows him operating from No. 5 Court, Leicester Street, and living in Wadsley. He sold a wide range of trade knives, but particularly ‘Every Description of Knives to Open Australian Meat Cans; Hook Knives, and Knives to Open Sardine Boxes’. Appropriately, his trade mark was a picture of can-opener. Oates was a....
