Emil Berek’s original name was Berkowski.  He was born in Poland on 19 April 1922 and arrived in England after 1945.  He worked at J. Y. Cowlishaw and later occupied a workshop in the same building as razor maker, C. Myers, in Athol Road.  He acquired Cowlishaw’s name and mark and launched a successful business as a cutlery factor and stainless steel jewellery manufacturer.  He was naturalised in 1968.  One pocket knife he produced for Wilkinson Sword had a Wharncliffe blade at one end, and at the other a square-pointed pen blade.  The blades were machine-ground, which enabled Berek to sell hundreds a week to Wilkinson’s, under their name (Heeley History Workshop, 2007¹).   He introduced his nephew, Trevor Ablett, to the trade.  Tragically, Emil and his wife, Ruby Ann, were killed in a head-on car crash at Ringinglow Road on 7 October 1974 (Morning Telegraph, 8 October 1974).  Emil was aged 52.  The funeral was at Hutcliffe Wood Crematorium and then Crookes Cemetery (consecrated ground).  His estate was £22, 094.

^1. Heeley History Workshop, It All Happened in My Lifetime: Stories and Tales of a Hundred Years of Living in Heeley as Recalled by Eddie Chapman (Sheffield, 2007)