The owner of this cutlery business was Joseph William Ball (1893-1962). He had been born in Sheffield, the son of Frederick (a spring knife cutler) and Annie Ball. In 1911, the family lived at Washington Road, where father and son were enumerated as spring knife cutlers. In 1915, Joseph married Bertha née Price. In 1922, Joseph and Bertha (of 19 Woodstock Road) registered Primus Cutlery Manufacturing Co as a private limited company, capitalised at £2,000. The firm was established as a forgers, grinders, and importers of and dealers in cutlery of all kinds, tools, implements, machine tools, razors, and scissors. Joseph was the manager; the address was 9 Eyre Lane. The business would have been a backstreet operation, with an office, a workshop with power, and warehouse space. Within a year or so, it was restyled Dawes & Ball (Sheffield) Ltd. Was this change forced upon Joseph Ball because ‘Primus’ was the well-known trade mark of Isaac Ellis & Sons Ltd? The new name is another puzzle, because no Dawes is listed in directories as a partner. Perhaps the Dawes’ name was simply a marketing device: after all, Ball was a common name and directories already listed the cutlery manufacturer Ball Bros.
In 1931, Dawes & Ball became a member of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. It advertised in the Chamber’s publication, Quality of Sheffield (Walters and Freeman, 19331). The advertisement gave prominence to safety razor blades. The latter were marketed with various trade names: ‘CAPSTAN’, ‘D & B’, ‘MARINER’ (with picture), ‘LEEDA’, ‘WLCOM’. The trade mark on cutlery was a picture of two birds (jackdaws?) and a ball. Another Dawes & Ball speciality was smokers’ knives, which usually had metal scales.
During the 1930s, the firm disappeared from the listings of cutlery manufacturers in Sheffield directories. In 1939, Joseph was living at Wake Road and described himself as a manager in a cutlery firm (Register of England & Wales, 1939). His son, Raymond Herbert Ball (1921-2010), declined to join his father’s firm and instead became an apprentice fitter at Bramall Lane garage. Joseph William was still running the firm at the start of the 1950s, but had probably retired by the end of the decade (when the firm’s address was Howard Works, Broad Street). Joseph died at the Royal Infirmary on 10 April 1962 (aged 68) and was buried at Norton Cemetery. He left £2,205 to Bertha. The name was acquired by Harrison Fisher.
1. Walters, J C and Freeman, G M, Quality of Sheffield (1933)