This was one of the first firms to establish a reputation in America in the early nineteenth century.   It was founded in 1825 by John Wilson and John Wilson Hawksworth (1798-1869).  The latter was the son of Stephen (a file smith) and Ann.  The firm was a merchant in cutlery, razors, and steel.   The first address was 4 Sycamore Street, where Wilson manufactured his renowned butchers’ and skinning knives.  The company’s American representative after 1829 was Joshua Moss (1801-1879), who had been apprenticed to Thorpe, Wragg & Co.  Moss established Wilson and Hawkworth’s American trade so successfully that he became a partner in 1832, when the firm’s name changed accordingly.   In 1836, as trade expanded, the business was moved to Arundel Lane.  Apparently, Wilson rented forging capacity to the partners at Beeley Wood Works.   The firm made (or factored) steel, forged it under water-powered tilt hammers, and also took on outside work.  At the end of the 1830s, John Wilson Hawksworth and Joshua Moss were joined by Richard Bealey, but in March 1840 the latter withdrrew.

In 1846, Joseph Ellison (1797-1861) – who was the son of William, a file smith, and Sarah – was appointed American representative (the firm becoming Wilson, Hawksworth, Ellison & Co).   Moss left to establish in 1853 the steel and file company Moss & Gamble Bros.   He died on 6 September 1879, aged 79, at his residence in Broomgrove Road.  A Wesleyan Methodist, he was buried in the General Cemetery and left an estate under £45,000 (Sheffield Independent, 8 September 1879).   Wilson died in 1849.  In the 1850s, the firm built a new steelworks, Carlise Works, in the Don Valley.  One of the partners was Henry H. Taylor.  In 1861, the firm employed 115 workers.   

J. W. Hawksworth died at his residence, Southbourne, on 2 October 1869, aged 71 (Sheffield Independent, 9 October 1869).  He was buried in Ecclesall, leaving effects valued at under £14,000.   Michael Hunter (1821-1898) joined the board in the 1870s (he had married Martha, the eldest daughter of J. W. Hawksworth).  Bowies marked ‘Wilson Hawksworth Celebrated Cast Steel’ and ‘Wilson Hawksworth Ellison’ have survived (Flayderman, 2004¹).   The firm exhibited and won an award for its table cutlery at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876.  But under the direction of a new partner, Charles W. Kayser, cutlery manufacture was abandoned – a trend hastened by American cutlery tariffs.  The company (as Kayser, Ellison) became one of Sheffield’s leading tool steel makers.  Its trade marks were a padlock (picture) and the words ‘MANUFACTURING UNION COMPANY’.

^1. Flayderman, Norm, The Bowie Knife: Unsheathing an American Legend (Woonsocket, RI, 2004)