Kutrite) stated that this firm was established in 1857. It appears ...">
© Picture Sheffield [s36495] - Moorfields Works, Snow Lane
One unconfirmed source (Kutrite) stated that this firm was established in 1857. It appears to have originated with George Crookes, a table knife and scissors manufacturer in Wellington Street in 1837. In the Census (1841) George Crookes was listed as a table knife manufacturer in Hanover Street (the factory address was Washington Works, Bowden Street). His son, Henry, was also a table knife manufacturer, aged 20; and another son was named George.
Later in the 1840s, George Crookes & Co was listed as a merchant and table knife manufacturer at 95 Norfolk Street, with George residing at East View, Parker’s Road. By 1862, this business had become Crookes & Clarke, with Henry Crookes (East View) and Thomas Clarke (Crabtree House, Pitsmoor) as partners. George Crookes (probably Jun.) was a ‘merchant’s clerk’ at East View. Crookes & Clarke became Henry Crookes & Co by 1868 with two partners – Henry Crookes of East Bank Cottage and George Crookes of Leavy Greave. The latter died on 19 April 1876, aged 78, and was buried in St Thomas’s cemetery, Crookes.
By 1876, the firm’s address was in Bramwell Street. The partners were Henry Crookes, ‘foreign merchant’, living at Ingleby Lodge, Williamson Road, Sharrow; and George Crookes (Henry’s son) at the same address. Henry retired in 1880 and moved to Bridlington with his wife, Mary Ann. After 1880, George and Charles Crookes (another son of Henry) were partners. George left to work as an engineer in Spain. In 1876, he had married Mary Haydon née Dignum (1851-1921). But by the early 1880s, their marriage had broken down. In 1887, George was ordered by the courts to return the daughter, Ada (1883-1974), to her mother, after he had allegedly abducted her from Bridlington Quay (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 1 February 1887). George and Mary remained estranged, though Ada was living with her father in Chelsea, London, in 1911.
By 1887, Henry Crookes & Co was located at Allen Street, with Herbert Crookes as the only listed partner. Allen Street was the home of Hale Bros and by 1889 it had acquired Crookes and its trade mark, consisting of the word ‘TIP’ and a picture of a top (i.e. tip-top). Henry Crookes died at Bridlington Quay, aged 77, on 9 February 1899 (two years after the death of his wife). He left £40,934. By 1901, Crookes’s address was Moorfields Works, Snow Lane – the same address as Hale Bros. Kutrite later used the Crookes’ name.