A maker from the classic era of the Bowie trade, John Hinchliffe was born in Sheffield in 1810.   By 1837 he was trading in Earl Street (with the name spelled ‘Hinchliff’).  His specialties were fancy pen and pocket knives, lock, sneck, dagger, dirk, American Indian and self-defence knives.  In 1841, he purchased the business of the late Thomas Burton, which included a distinctive ‘BEEHIVE’ trade mark (picture and word).   Hinchliffe moved to Hermitage Street.   In The Sheffield Independent, 27 February 1841, he took the opportunity of ‘thanking those Gentlemen who had hitherto favoured him with their Orders … to assure them … that nothing shall be wanting on his part to merit their esteemed favours.  NB: Several good Workmen wanted’.  A Hinchliffe Bowie knife is depicted in Flayderman (2004)¹.  Probably dating from the late 1830s, the knife (stamped ‘J. Hinchliff’) may be one of the earliest examples with ‘Bowie Knife’ stamped on the blade.  In 1851, Hinchliffe displayed an impressive collection of his work at the Great Exhibition, including:

Flambeau dagger hunting clasp-knife, 10½-inches haft, carved in pearl representing the cutlers’ arms, with carved scrolls and flowers in bas relief, cased in gold edge, with gold guard.   Gentleman’s Wharncliffe knives in pearl, shell, ivory, and stag handles.  Ladies’ knives in pearl ivory, etc., American hunting lock knives, in fancy handles, etc.  (Great Exhibition Official Catalogue, 1851).

Hinchliffe’s array of knives for the Exhibition was noted by The Sheffield Independent, 22 March 1851.  It reported that the pearl handle of the flambeau dagger had been carved by Charles Levesley from a design by W. Flather of Phoenix foundry.  Levesley’s work alone had taken several weeks and had cost £25.  

Hinchliffe and his family lived in Hermitage Street.  His wife was Mary Ann, the daughter of William Horrabin, whom he had married in 1844.   In the Census (1851), he described himself as a cutlery manufacturer employing ten workers.  By 1856, Hinchliffe had relocated to Beehive Works, Duke Street, but his career was cut short.  The General Cemetery register recorded his demise on 22 October 1858, aged 48.  His death (‘deeply regretted by family and numerous friends’) had occurred at Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum, near Warrington.  According to the death certificate, the cause of death was ‘exhaustion from acute mania’.  Hinchliffe was buried in a pauper’s grave.  He left effects valued at under £1,500.  Apparently, the Hinchliffe enterprise was continued for a year or so by Hinchliffe’s son, Samuel.  But the business was no longer listed in directories after 1860.  The name Beehive Works and the trade mark seem to have been acquired by John C. Cockhill in the early 1860s.  The mark was later owned by Slater Bros, then by Marples & Co, and finally by Gregory Bros.

^1. Flayderman, Norm, The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend (Woonsocket, RI, 2004)