Cutlery Box
Abram Brooksbank was born in Bermondsey, south London, on 27 February 1822. He was the son of Abraham – a leather factor of Long Lane – and his wife, Ann. Abram was apprenticed to a London iron merchant. By 1845, he partnered William Hoole (1804-1859), who was a Sheffield merchant, steel refiner, and file, and knife manufacturer in Malinda Street. (According to a newspaper source, the families were related by marriage.) Hoole moved to London (where he died on 9 July 1859, leaving under £4,000) and Brooksbank acquired the business. In 1849, he was listed at Malinda Works as a merchant and manufacturer of steel, files, saws, and table knives.
Brooksbank’s ‘business aptitude was remarkable, and the firm soon acquired a capital reputation and an ever-increasing connection’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 22 April 1890). His firm exhibited files and rasps at the Great Exhibition (1851). By 1861, about a hundred workers were employed. The mark was a cannon (picture) and the word DEFIANCE (also used by Wilkin and Pitts). A gold nugget (picture and name) was registered; and a silver mark in 1895. During the 1880s – when the firm marketed machine knives, farriers’ knives, razors, and pen and pocket cutlery – Brooksbank partnered Benjamin Patey Tregenza, one of his most experienced travellers, and the firm became ‘& Co’. But Tregenza died on 30 September 1885, aged 52. In the early 1890s, Brooksbank was joined by his nephew, Bryant Turner (1853-1920), who had been born in Ipswich and had trained as a merchant’s clerk (probably at Brooksbank’s).
In the 1870s, Brooksbank became a Town Councillor, Mayor, Alderman, and JP. He died suddenly from heart disease at the Victoria Hotel, London, on 21 April 1890 (aged 68) and was buried at Ecclesall. He left £71,333. In 1856, he had married in Ipswich Kate Mary, the second daughter of the late Walton Turner, of Ipswich. His wife survived him, but they had no children. Bryant and Douglas Turner became partners until 1910, when the former became the sole partner. Bryant Turner died on 7 May 1920, leaving £14,269. He was buried at Ecclesall. The business became a private limited company in 1922 (capital £7,500) and continued in Malinda Street until 1932, when the cutlery assets were acquired by Needham, Veall & Tyzack in Milton Street. Herbert Pemberton English (1877-1936), a cutlery traveller of Epping, was a director of the firm at his death. Brooksbank was listed at Milton Street until 1965.