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Advertisement from 1950. Image courtesy of Geoff Tweedale
This spring knife enterprise, which operated concurrently with another John Crossland, can be traced to the early nineteenth century. John Crossland (c.1799-1848) was a cutler and warehouseman. His name appeared in the Sheffield directory (1833) at 45 Broad Street, Park. By the 1840s, he lived at Henry Street, Park. He and his wife, Millicent (c.1797-1882), had several children: Mary Ann (born 1821), Elizabeth (1824), William (1826), Sarah (1828), John (1831), Edward Ford (1834), and Walter (1836). Henry Crossland died on 11 March 1848 and was buried at Ecclesall. In the Census (1851), it is puzzling to read that the family was living at Rockingham Street and headed by Amelia Crossland, widow (aged 53). Amelia appeared in subsequent Censuses (1861, 1871) – looking after her daughter, Sarah, who was an ‘imbecile/idiot’ from birth – before Millicent was again listed in 1881. She was living at the house of her son-in-law (Mary Ann’s husband) with Sarah. Millicent died on 15 November 1882 (aged 85) at Kimberworth. Her burial was at Ecclesall.
John Crossland (1831-1904) followed his father into the cutlery trade. Apparently, his first listed business address was in Holly Street, when he was living in Pitsmoor, close to Spital Hill. In 1876, John Crossland & Sons, making spring knives and surgical instruments in Holly Street, advertised in the local directory. He and his wife, Jane (d.1923, aged 90), had several sons, including Frank Cornwall (1861-1943) and John (1872-1945). The firm appears to have been a small operation and was not listed for several years. John and his family lived at Cavendish Street after about 1881. Between 1899 and 1902, John Crossland, spring-knife manufacturer, was listed at Burgess Street. The firm disappeared from directories thereafter, presumably because John Crossland Sen. had retired. He died at Dobbin Hill on 21 April 1904, aged 71, and was buried at Ecclesall.
By 1905, Crossland Bros (directed by Frank and John) was listed in Sheffield directories as a pen and pocket knife manufacturer at 19 Carver Street. It continued to trade into the twentieth century, though by 1919 only John was listed as a partner (living at Bower Road). In 1939, Frank was still working as a spring knife cutler, living at Leamington Street. He died on 13 June 1943, aged 82, and was buried at the General Cemetery. His brother, John (who had retired), died at Dobcroft Avenue on 30 December 1945, aged 73. He was buried in unconsecrated ground at Crookes Cemetery, leaving £3,772. Crossland Bros remained as a pocket knife and scissors manufacturer in Carver Street until the late 1950s. An advertisement in The Ironmonger Diary (1950) traced the firm to 1825. However, the Sheffield directory in 1951 did not identify the owners. A mark featuring a Maltese Cross and the word ‘LAND’ has been seen on nineteenth-century pocket knives and may relate to this John Crossland.