© Ken Hawley Collection Trust - K.0106
Ernest Clifford Bingham (1897-1973) was born in Sheffield, the son of John Frederick Bingham, a razor smith and whetter, and his wife, Lily. He started as an office boy, but in the early 1920s launched E. Bingham & Co as a table knife manufacturer at Court No. 9, 79 Allen Street. The firm was an early marketer of stainless table knives and registered the word ‘LUSTARE’ in 1922. The firm produced boxed sets of table cutlery, marked ‘FIRTH STAINLESS’ and ‘LUSTA’ (which was presumably a shortened version of the name). Bingham’s partners were Hamer Garnet Bower and Frank Letch. The latter withdrew in 1922, leaving Bingham and Bower as directors. In 1928, a directory listing described Bingham’s as manufacturers of table and butchers’ knives, and electro-plate goods. It remained based in Allen Street (Scottish Works), but apparently had ceased trading by the beginning of the 1930s. ‘LUSTARE’ was re-registered by I. S. Dearden in 1956 (Doncaster, 1990).