Smith & Hawksley
This razor and spring-knife manufacturer was active in Rockingham Street by 1845. The partners included William Brown Hawksley, who was born in Owlerton in 1821, the son of Joseph (a paper manufacturer) and Rebecca. He may have been the razor grinder, living in Bridgehouses, who was enumerated in the 1841 Census. The other partner was William L. Smith, whose personal details remain sketchy. He lived in Fitzwilliam Street in 1851, when he employed a dozen men and two boys. In the 1850s and early ....
