The company was a retail outlet based in Kingston upon Humber with branches in Nottingham, Goole and Middlesborough.  During 1877 Thomas Swaine Kaye took over the saw repairing and tool business of Thomas Thacker, originally established around 1848. Thomas Swaine had previously undergone a six year apprenticeship with a saw maker and funds to buy the business were raised by building and selling two houses.  An 1899 directory lists the company as a 'saw maker and tool & cutlery dealer' in Hull.  Products were sourced from a wide range suppliers, e.g. iron nails imported from France and Belgium, machine tools from Germany and hand tools from Sheffield; a pre-requisite being that all items were marked with the 'Kaye' brand. The Hull shop  had a workshop with a range of grinding/sharpening equipment, used to manufacture saws and repair tools/knives, and utilized in World War I to sharpen swords and bayonets.

During W.W. II the Bond Street shop in Hull was bombed and new premises acquired. Around this time William Henry Kaye (Thomas Swain's son) produced a hand drawn catalogue illustrating the diverse product range available. While all the items were stamped with the brand name 'Kaye' the manufacturers' names were not included (making it impossible to identify who made the cutlery in the catalogue).

The 1970's saw the decline of the Hull ship building industry and fishing fleet, and this, together with the growth of retail parks and large DIY suppliers inevitably resulted in the business being declared bankrupt in 1982, over a hundred years after it was originally purchased by Thomas Swaine Kaye.

The name Kaye is still 'alive' on the Internet and many of the tools have now become collectable.

Thanks to Felicity Kaye, great-granddaughter of Thomas Swaine Kaye, for this information. Further details on the company and its history can be found in the book 'The History of T. S. Kaye & Sons, Tool Merchants, Hull' written by Felicity Diane Kaye.(available on Amazon) and on the family website at https://tskayeandsons.weebly.com/