Stuart Mitchell Sen. (1942-1996) left school in 1957 and started at Taylor’s Eye Witness, where he worked his way through various departments, until he was able to start a small cutler’s workshop (Taylor, 1988).  Three or four cutlers were involved, besides his wife Pat (whom he had married in 1961).  Stuart Sen. was then asked by his sick father, Lol, to run the family’s scrapyard in Trafalgar Street.  Stuart temporarily abandoned cutlery, but later set up a workshop at the yard for Pat, who had become bored at home after raising the family.  She operated the business alone for a time, so it was styled as Pat Mitchell (Cutlers).  She was helped increasingly by her husband, who joined her full-time after the scrapyard closed.  They supplied leading firms with butchers’ and trade knives; and in 1968 began manufacturing hunting knives.  In 1975, they moved to Stag Works of Samuel Peace and then in 1980 to Portland Works, the former home of R. F. Mosley.  

Stuart’s son – also named Stuart – was born in Sheffield in 1970.  After leaving school at 15, he joined his father as an apprentice.  He recalled: ‘We would work Monday to Friday and also Saturday and Sunday if the demand was there’ (Memories of Work Group, vol. 2, 2009).  Pat died in 1997, aged 54 (her husband in the previous year), so their son continued solo at Portland Works as a custom knife maker.  

Stuart Mitchell developed into a specialist in fixed-blade hunters, bushcraft, and Bowie knives for collectors and outdoorsmen.  He hand crafts these knives in various steels and distinctive handle materials.  In 2013, he produced a commemorative stainless steel centenary knife – made appropriately at Portland Works.

Further details about Stuart Mitchell can be found on his website at https://www.stuartmitchellknives.com/aboutme