Edward Blaydes was born in Sheffield in 1838, the son of William, a joiner, and his wife, Jane.  Edward became a table knife grinder (and also a grocer and earthenware dealer).  In the early 1870s, he started a cutlery venture with James Whitham at Northern Tool Works, John Street.  This was dissolved in 1875, when Edward launched Edward Blaydes & Co at Advance Works, New Thomas Street [Denby Street].  In 1876, a full-page directory advertisement promised cutlery of ‘every description … for home and export trade’ (table knives and forks, Bowie, dagger and spear-point knives, shoe, butchers’, and cooks’ knives, and razors and scissors).  The corporate mark was crossed blades (picture). 

Blaydes’ partners included his brother, John Alfred Blaydes (1836-1884), who was the chief accountant for the Sheffield Water Co; and Joseph Wragg, whose family was an egg wholesaler.  (J. A. Blaydes was living with the Wragg family in Button Lane at the time of the Census in 1861.)  Blaydes was an appropriate name for a cutlery company.  However, in 1883 the partnership was dissolved.  Edward emigrated with his wife, Mary Ann, to Montreal, where he helped establish the Canada Cutlery Co.  John A. Blaydes, Cliff Bank, Brocco Bank, died on 4 July 1884, aged 48.  He was buried in the General Cemetery in an unconsecrated grave.  His son, Charles Herbert, had died on 4 April in the same year, aged only 16.  The company’s ‘successor’ was John Wragg & Son.