Herbert Payne (1881-1922) was a cutlery and plate dealer, who had been born at Uppingham, Rutland. His father, Joseph, was a watch and clockmaker; his mother was Elizabeth. In about 1900, he moved to Banbury and worked for J. Mawle & Sons, ironmongers.  Payne’s penchant for politics led to his dismissal, so he became a commercial traveller in cutlery and then started his own business in 1905 (the year he married Florence Venus Carter). He worked from home at Marston House, 37 Bridge Street, near the Cow Fair (a market square next to the Town Hall in Banbury).  He travelled the Midlands, selling mainly to caterers, confectioners, hotels, and boarding houses. By the First World War, he was trading as H. Payne & Sons – though he had no sons, only a daughter, Kathleen Violet.  Perhaps he wished to make the company name sound more impressive.  He employed a traveller or two, but by the First World War was running essentially a one-man business. In his words, he ‘bought the stuff to sell again’ (Banbury Guardian, 10 August 1916).  The knife in the Hawley Collection may have been made in Sheffield before the War, when ‘secure handle’ cutlery was in vogue.

Elected to the Town Council as an Independent (or socialist as some described him), Payne was an advocate of social reform and was closely involved in providing council housing in the town. Payne has been described as a ‘respectable radical, Congregationalist, pacifist, teetotaller, and vegetarian. Above all, he was a great speaker … who could really hold a crowd … It was not long before his opponents began to call him the Cow Fair Roarer’ (Jane Kilsby, ‘Early Council Housing in Banbury: King’s Road and the Cow Fair Roarer’, Banbury Historical Society, Autumn/Winter 2017). 

Payne was also a conscientous objector, who was imprisoned in 1917 for refusing to fight. On his release, he returned briefly to Banbury, but decided to move to Sheffield.  In 1919, stainless cutlery was advertised by H. Payne & Sons at Helm Works, Arundel Street (Guardian, Bournemouth, 3 May 1919). Helm Works was the location of cutlery manufacturer Frank Wood, so presumably Payne was renting space there. In 1922, he announced that he was permanently closing his wholesale cutlery depot in Banbury, with the sale of £10,000 stock of cutlery and plate. He wished his friends and colleagues farewell. He apologised for any hasty words expressed in the heat of party politics and begged ‘to assure all concerned that even if zeal sometimes outran discretion, it was always his sincere motive to advance the general public good’ (Banbury Advertiser, 2 March 1922).  Payne had decided to take larger premises in Sheffield at 48 Porter Street, which he informed his customers had excellent showrooms and offices to deal with a growing postal trade.

However, Payne died at Warneford Hospital in east Oxford on 23 March 1922, aged only 41. According to his friends, the War had broken his spirit. Newspaper obituarists praised him as a ‘fluent speaker and untiring enthusiast’, but characterised him as someone who got too ‘carried away by his fervour’. A dim view was taken of Payne’s attempt to run a four-page weekly newspaper in Banbury (Banbury Advertiser, 30 March 1922). He was buried at Banbury Cemetery, Southam Road, leaving £4,825 to his wife, Florence.

H. Payne & Sons continued to operate at 37 Bridge Street until the start of the 1930s – presumably operated by Florence (Banbury Advertiser, 10 April 1930). It apparently ceased trading in 1931. Florence died in 1936 and was buried alongside her late husband.