The owner of the ‘CRUSADE’ trade mark and company was Samuel Viner (information courtesy of David Sayliss).  He was born in Germany on 21 June 1886, the son of Ludwig and Emily Viener, whose family launched Viners.  In 1891, the family was living at Norwich, where Ludwig was a general dealer.

Before the First World War, the Viener family became involved in Sheffield cutlery. In 1922, Samuel started as an electro-plate manufacturer at 145 Eldon Street. To expand his business, he acquired the machinery, stock-in-trade, and goodwill of Wm. Briggs & Co, Wentworth Works, Andrew Street (Sheffield Independent, 3 February 1923).  In 1924, Samuel Viener became naturalised. He revived the company, trading first under his own name (which he soon changed to Viner). In 1932, he registered The Wentworth Plate Co Ltd as a private company, with £2,000 capital. It manufactured cutlery and electro-plate and continued to be based in Andrew Street in the Wicker. Samuel’s brother, Max (at Viners), was also a director. 

By the 1930s, Wentworth Plate Co employed about fifty workers, many of whom were women and teenage girls. Working conditions were poor, though typical. In 1928, a fire broke out on one of the upper floors (the cabinet case shop), but was soon extinguished. A more serious conflagration occurred seven years later, when celluloid ignited in the handle-fitting workshop. Women in the cabinet case department on the floor above were trapped and forced to exit through windows. Two women fell forty feet into the back yard; one of them – a 27-year-old married woman, Phyllis Fawcett – died from her injuries. An inquest jury concluded that the emergency exits were ‘inadequate’, though the deputy coroner ‘did not think that the firm’s negligence amounted to criminal negligence’ (Sheffield Daily Independent, 21, 24 September 1935).

In 1939, Samuel was living with his wife, Celia, at Endcliffe Grove Avenue (1939 England & Wales Register). He continued to trade during the War, but by the late 1940s the company had metamorphosed into Crusade (Cutlery) Ltd. The address was Crusade Works, Johnson Lane and Andrew Street. In 1947, it was an exhibitor at the British Industries Fair, Olympia, London.  The firm manufactured (or factored) cutlery, spoons, forks, canteens, cabinets, hotel ware, butchers’ and trade knives and flatware. These were made in ‘STAYBRITE’ stainless steel, EPNS, and chromium plate. In 1951, the firm was voluntarily wound up (the year after The Ironmonger Diary carried an advertisement for the firm).  According to Whitham & Sykes (1953), the mark was owned by Hubert Heald (owner of Charles Heald).  Later it passed to Rockingham Plate Ltd. Samuel Viner, of 17 Collegiate Crescent, died in Sheffield on 22 September 1969. He was buried in Sheffield Jewish Cemetery, leaving £4,941.