Advertisement from Foreign Buyers' Catalogue & Consuls' List, 1895
Thomas Wilson (1859-1940) was the son of Thomas Wilson, a coal dealer in Milton Street, and his wife, Mary Ann. His cutlery and plate business apparently began in 1889 in Rockingham Street, but in the 1890s moved to Continental Works, Milton Street. This was also the location of John McClory. When that firm became a provate limited company in 1898, Wilson’s business was included and he became a McClory director. This involvement had ended by 1905, when Thomas Wilson’s business address was 173 and 175 Granville Street (the former workshops of Allen & Son). In 1919, Wilson’s was registered as a private limited company with £25,000 capital, but was liquidated in 1926.
Wilson’s name reappeared at Eclipse Works, Boston Street. Leslie Wilson & Co was at the same address. This was presumably Leslie Alexander Wilson (1899-1983?), who was one of Thomas’s sons, by his wife, Lilian Sarah. In 1930, another son, Lawrence Wilson (1890-1961), began his own limited company (capital £3,000) at Abney Works, Wheeldon Street. By the mid-1930s, these firms were not listed (though Lawrence later founded Gordon Tools Ltd). Thomas Wilson, Westwick Road, died on 24 March 1940, leaving £648. Lawrence Wilson, The Causeway, Dore, died on 2 June 1961. He left £22,848 and was buried at Dore.