A trade advertisement stated that the enterprise was founded in 1833.  It began as Hawcroft & Pearson, razor manufacturers in Eldon Street, which was listed in directories in 1834.  One partner was Samuel Pearson.  The other was William Hawcroft, a master razor manufacturer, who had been born in about 1801 in Bradfield.  He was likely the William Hawcroft – the son of Isaac, a knife grinder – who was apprenticed to razor maker William Revitt (possibly?) and granted his Freedom in 1848.   Sheffield Museums Trust has a giant razor made for steelmakers Johnson Cammell & Co.  It is acid-etched with the words ‘CAST STEEL’ and is stamped ‘Hawcroft & Pearson, 61 Eldon Street’.

Hawcroft was first listed as a razor manufacturer in his own right in a directory in 1841.  He was based at his house in Gell Street.  In 1845, his partnership with Pearson was dissolved.  Between the early 1840s and early 1850s, Hawcroft’s business was located in Carver Street and then in Fitzwilliam Street.  In the 1840s, Hawcroft’s business became ‘& Sons’.   His sons were Isaac, William John, and George Henry.   The latter (born in 1834) does not seem to have joined the family firm, so it was Isaac Hawcroft (1823-1880) and William John Hawcroft (1830-1888) who assisted their father.  Hawcroft built a reputation by the traditional route: quality products and a striking trade mark (a flying angel and trumpet and the word ‘RENOWN’).   The firm won a Prize Medal at the Great Exhibition (1851):  

The most conspicuous article is a large shew [sic] razor, on the blade of which the Crystal Palace is beautifully etched.   The handle is of ivory, and exhibits an elegant design, of which the centre is the royal arms, supported by the figures of fame and plenty; while near the end are the arms of Sheffield and the Cutlers’ Company, with various national symbols.  The handle was designed by Mr J. C. Fleming, and the ornamental part of the etching, on the blade, by Mr C. White (Sheffield Independent, 26 April 1851).  

Hawcroft’s Crystal Palace razor featured in The Art Journal’s Illustrated Catalogue (1851).  Hawcroft was also awarded a First Class Medal in Paris in 1855; and another Medal at the London International Exhibition in 1862 for ‘razors excellent in design and quality’.  The firm frequently advertised in the Sheffield directories after 1856 as a manufacturer of razors and ‘cutlery in all its branches’.  

In 1854, William Hawcroft & Sons moved to Bath Works, Bath Street.  William and his family lived at Shireville, Albert Road, in Heeley.  Hawcroft was a member of the Company of Cutlers and had served as town councillor.  A comfortable retirement beckoned.  However, his wife Ann died in 1867, aged 66.  Then in 1868, Hawcroft himself was struck down in what the press described as a ‘singular’ accident.   On the evening of 16 December 1868, the 67-year-old manufacturer was heading home in the rain with his umbrella up when he encountered two bullocks being driven to the slaughterhouse.  He was knocked to the ground and gored in the head.  A doctor treated his wounds and a cab took him home, but he died two days later.  He was buried in the General Cemetery, leaving under £800.

After William’s death, the business passed to his sons, Isaac and William.   In 1871, Isaac told the Census that Hawcroft’s employed 20 hands.  Three years later, Isaac’s partnership with his brother was terminated.  William moved to Evesham and became a glass and china dealer.  He died at Evesham on 7 June 1888.  Isaac continued to operate the family firm until his death at Shireville, Heeley, on 15 September 1880.  He left under £2,000.  His tomb is in Norton cemetery.  By his wife, Ann née Cade, Isaac had two sons – William John (1855-1922) and George Isaac (1858-1925) – who assumed the direction of the business.  In 1881, it employed nine men and a girl.  Besides razors, Hawcroft’s marketed spring and table cutlery.  When George withdrew in 1892, William John was the last surviving family manager.  He became insolvent in 1900 with liabilities of £1,273 against assets of £98.  The stock of the Bath Street business was sold (Sheffield Independent, 25 April 1900).   William, aged 46, and living in Crookesmoor Road, retired and became an artist.   He died at Cambridge.