George Brown
George Brown was a pen and pocket knife cutler, who was listed in directories in Coalpit Lane in 1774, 1781, 1787, and 1797. His trade mark was ‘BROWN’. Sturdy pocket knives stamped with that name have survived. Possibly, this was George Brown, the son of Joseph Brown (a shoe maker in Coalpit Lane), who was apprenticed to cutler Samuel Dickinson (also of Coalpit Lane). His Freedom was granted in 1765. Brown did not appear in directories after 1797. Significantly perhaps, a George Brown, ‘cutler’, Coalpit Lane, was buried in St Peter’s churchyard on 7 January 1814. He was aged 76.