Thomas Burch
Thomas Burch was born at Stannington in about 1815. Possibly he was related to William Burch, a pen knife manufacturer in Oborne Street between 1828 and 1841, and in 1845 in South Street. Thomas’s first listing in a directory was in 1849, when he advertised from Daisy Walk (off Allen Street) as a maker of pocket knives. His speciality was ‘original’ fish hook knives (with a fish hook trade mark), like those made by Robert Bateman and Jonathan Beet. In 1881, Burch employed eight men and a boy in Allen Street. He died on 15 October 1881, aged 66, and was buried in Stannington churchyard. He left £98.