This firm began in about 1862, as a general merchant and manufacturer of table, pen, and pocket knives, razors, and scissors.   The address was Orchard Street, where Richard Wardrobe and Henry Robert Pearce operated a ‘Cutlery Store’.   Richard Wardrobe (bapt.1829-1909) had been born at Pollington, Yorkshire, the son of William (who was a bricklayer in 1841) and Lydia née Backhouse.  He became a ‘clerk’ and then a cutlery manufacturer in Steel Bank in the 1850s.  Henry may have been related to John Pearce, who was a cutlery dealer in Angel Street.   ‘Henry Robert Pearce’ has been found stamped on razors.  The partnership ended in 1871.  

Richard Wardrobe started Wardrobe & Smith, a tool steel maker.  He died on 9 June 1909, aged 80, leaving £11,112.  Pearce continued at West Street and Charlotte Street (1870s); Crown Cutlery Works, Mary Street (1880s); and Rockingham Lane (1890s).  His son, John Harry Pearce (1862-1904), joined and they briefly partnered C. H. Charlesworth.  J. H. Pearce registered a design for a safety razor in 1884, but his identity is uncertain (Waits, 2009¹).  The partnership was dissolved in 1889.  Henry Robert Pearce, ‘merchant’, Spring Hill Road, died on 17 November 1894, aged 56, leaving £3,411.  His burial was in the General Cemetery.  The firm became H. R. Pearce & Son, which by 1902 had been acquired by Albert Sharrard.  In 1903, it became a private limited company (capital £1,000), but soon disappeared.  John H. Pearce, ‘traveller’, died on 18 July 1904 (aged 42) at the Nursing Institute, Chorlton, Manchester.  His remains lie in the family grave in the General Cemetery.

^1. Waits, R K, Before Gillette: The Quest for a Safe Razor Inventors and Patents, 1762-1901 (2009)