Advertisment from 1830
This company was based in Sheffield and Birmingham between the 1830s and 1860s – though Osborn companies operated at these locations at an earlier date. The family linkages are difficult to unravel, not least because directories used ‘Osborn’ and ‘Osborne’ interchangeably. But Philip Osborn (c.1770-1833) was listed in directories between 1816 and 1822 as a pen and pocket knife manufacturer in Carver Street. (Osborn, Baggaly & Co in Carver Street in 1811 may also be relevant.) Philip apparently developed connections in Birmingham (where he probably lived) and Liverpool. Between 1825 and 1828, Peter Osborn & Son was trading in Carver Street (with no Philip listed). Perhaps Peter was Philip’s son. In 1830, Osborn & Son’s cutlery warehouse in Birmingham was praised for elevating the beauty and excellence of the thoroughfare of Bennett’s Hill. Osborn’s entry in The History, Topography and Directory of Warwickshire was accompanied by a full-page advertisement (West, 18301).
Philip Osborn died, aged 63, on 20 February 1833 at the home of his son-in-law, Mr R. Barlow, Regent Cottage, Birmingham. The Sheffield Independent, 25 May 1833, carried a notice of the auction of Osborn & Sons’ finished and unfinished stock of pen and pocket knives, including working tools, fixtures, and 300 gross of scales, springs, and blades (ground and unground). The advertisement noted that Osborn & Sons was ‘declining that part of their manufacturing concern’. In 1837, Osborn’s Liverpool branch also closed.
In the 1830s, the Osborn name was carried forward in Sheffield and Birmingham by Thomas Osborn (1802-1885). He was apparently baptised in Sheffield, the son of Philip (a cutler and probably the ‘Philip’ mentioned above) and his wife, Martha. Census enumerations between 1841 and 1881 variously described Thomas as a cutler or silversmith living with his family in Edgbaston. In directories, Thomas Osborn & Sons was listed as a manufacturer of cutlery, surgical instruments, silversmith, electro-plater, and dealer in lamps; with a ‘manufactory’ in Carver Street, Sheffield, and a wholesale cutlery outlet next to the Post Office, Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham. In 1851, Osborn employed a dozen men. He traded in Sheffield and Birmingham until the early 1860s, when his manager was Jonathan Willis. Thomas Osborn was widowed and had retired by 1881. He died in Portland Road, Edgbaston, on 24 August 1885, aged 82. He left an estate of £10,597.
1. West, William, The History, Topography, and Directory of Warwickshire (Birmingham, 1830)