The ‘brothers’ were Frederick Percy Rawson (1843-1909) and James Harvey Rawson (1838-1906).  They were the sons of Samuel Rawson (1802-1877), a joiner and builder, and his wife, Harriet.  The family supposedly had links to John Rawson (the second Master Cutler in 1625); but others have suggested that this branch of the family came from Tickhill in the 1790s and had no connection with the distant Master.  Percy was born on 24 November 1843 at Hill Foot, Sheffield.  Between 1858 and 1864, he was apprenticed to John Walters & Co at Globe Works.  After that company was declared bankrupt, Percy became manager at Walter’s ‘successor’, Unwin & Rodgers (Sheffield Independent, 20 July 1867).  In 1870, Percy partnered his brother-in-law Charles Burgon in Burgon & Rawson at Globe Works.  In 1872, when Burgon left, Percy was joined by his older brother, Harvey.

Rawson Bros was at Globe Cutlery Works in Carver Street.  As a merchant, it sold pen, pocket and sportsman’s knives, besides table and butchers’ knives, scissors, razors, files, saws, and electro-plated goods.  Rawson Bros relied heavily on the export trade.  Percy was said to have been the first Sheffield manufacturer to trade directly with the Far East.  This is difficult to confirm, but he was certainly amongst the first.  In 1870, his firm began to ship cutlery and tools to India, through London agents, and in late 1885 Percy visited India for five weeks.  He spent his time ‘getting orders, and in going into the bazaars, looking at the manufacturers’ goods, and sitting with the natives’ (Sheffield Independent, 29 November 1889).  The firm also developed trading links with China and Australia.

Rawson’s corporate marks included an altar cross between two wings (granted in 1870); and a cockerel with the letter ‘S’ (assigned in 1875).  It also acquired the name ‘LEWIS MURRAY’.  Percy apparently took a keen interest in trade marking issues.  In 1878, his firm took action against John Julian, a cutlery caster, for trade mark infringement.  Rawson was reported to have visited Germany in 1890 to assess its alleged counterfeiting of Sheffield marks.  On other occasions, his attitude to marking was more ambiguous.  The name Globe Cutlery Works had echoes of the Globe Works of his previous employer.  He encountered opposition from Lockwood Bros for using the latter’s ‘REAL KNIFE’ wording; and from Joseph Rodgers & Sons for using the name ‘John Rodgers & Sons’ (Sheffield Independent, 3 December 1889).  In that year, Rawson Bros was a defendant in a trade mark action brought by file manufacturer John Baker & Sons.  The case was protracted – lasting nineteen days – and typically convoluted (revolving around the arcane issue of circles enclosing the respective marks).  The case ended in a costly stalemate that satisfied neither party (Sheffield Independent, 6 August 1890).  The dispute rumbled on and evidently did not win Rawson friends everywhere.  In 1890, The Birmingham Gazette criticised Rawson for exploiting the technicalities of trade mark law.  The newspaper later published an apology, after Rawson alleged libel (Sheffield Independent, 27 April 1891).  

Rawson Bros employed 174 workers in 1871, but only 42 a decade later.  Percy’s (and his brother’s) public activities may explain that.  Percy was a ‘keen politician’ (Sheffield & District Who’s Who, 1905).  He became a JP, Town Councillor, and in 1906 was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate for the Stamford Division of Lincolnshire.  He was also a prominent local Baptist, who was trustee of six Baptist chapels and the promoter of numerous Baptist extension schemes.  District preaching (along with fly-fishing and beekeeping) were his hobbies.  In the Census (1881), he described himself as a Town Councillor and Baptist lay preacher first, and ‘general hardware and cutlery manufacturer’ second.  He was tall and very spare in figure, with immense energy.  ‘Rigid’, ‘uncompromising’, a ‘fondness for calling a spade a spade’, were other attributes that were said to have made enemies.  It was said that, ‘had he lived 400 years ago, boiling oil or fiery faggots would have brightened his end’ (Derry, 1902¹).  Stainton (1924)² added: ‘A flash of the native wit which always characterized the Sheffielder gave him a curious nickname and he became known as “Rawcy Person”, a nickname which tickled the groundlings at any rate’. 

In 1906, during the Stamford election, Percy’s brougham was hit by a motor car – an accident from which, it was said, he never fully recovered.  His brother, Harvey – also a Liberal and temperance worker – died on 16 August 1906, aged 77.  Percy suffered another personal loss in January 1909, after the death of another brother, Herbert A. Rawson (see Rawson & Turner).  Percy Rawson died on 11 July 1909 at his residence in Kenbourne Road.  An extensive obituary in The Sheffield Independent, 12 July 1909, was devoted to his civic and religious doings.  It judged: ‘Considerable as were his position and influence in the business world, political and temperance work may be said to have been the main interest of his life’.  He left £13,332 and was buried in the General Cemetery.

In 1911, James Kinder, who had joined as an office boy in 1875, acquired Rawson’s (which probably employed over a hundred).  In 1946, it became ‘Ltd’, when Kinder was joined by his twin sons.  He died at Broomhall Place on 31 December 1953, aged 93, leaving £5,566.  The business apparently passed to the Burkinshaw family through the marriage of James Kinder’s daughter.  An advert (1961) stated an establishment date of 1848.  In the early 1960s, Wilfred Burkinshaw moved the firm from Carver Street: later addresses included Bath Street and Penistone Road.  It ceased trading in 1976.

^1. Derry, John, ‘Who’s Who in Sheffield’, bound volume of newspaper cuttings, SCLLS, 1902

^2. Stainton, J H, The Making of Sheffield, 1865-1914 (Sheffield, 1924)