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Some Special Interests => Occupation Interests => Topic started by: Garethboxing on Sunday 13 May 07 14:45 BST (UK)
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What exactly is an edge tool maker? I've just done a search of this site to see if the question had been asked before and discovered that a lot of us have one :)
Was it restricted to a particular industry or could his skill have been used in various fields - maybe including farming?
Regards, Gareth
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Hi
Maker of knives, scythes - cutting tools
Have a look on this site, I love it
http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/e.html
Jane ;D
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Thanks, Jane - and I've bookmarked that site :)
Now the question is: would he have worked in a factory or been a self-employed sort who perhaps travelled around seeking work. Perhaps he would have doubled up as a knife-grinder, who used to go from place sharpening cutting edges?
Gareth
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There are 23 categories under edge tool in "The Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
edge tool bander; edge tool cutter-out; edge tool examiner; edge tool fasher; edge tool fitter; edge tool forger; edge tool forger's striker; edge tool grinder; edge tool gripper; edge tool handler; edge tool hardener; edge tool japanner; edge tool jobbing grinder; edge tool machineman; edge tool parer; edge tool plater (nickel); edge tool plater (smith); edge tool raw glazer; edge tool roller; edge tool setter; edge tool setter (grinder); edge tool stamper; edge tool striker.
But no Edge Tool Maker ???
Stan
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You might find something on this site:
http://www.unionancestors.co.uk/AtoZ%20A.htm
(They might have had a Trade Union).
Romilly
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Thanks, Stan (I had a little bet with myself that you'd be on - I'll have a pint with the winnings tonight ;) ) even if the actual phrase "edge tool maker" seems to be missing. There are certainly several them on RC members' trees.
And, Romilly, that's another handy site to be bookmarked. Most of the edge tool unions seem to be pretty localised, but there might be a possible source of info among them.
Gareth
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Edge-tool, in early use, any implement with a sharp cutting edge, as a knife or sword; now (in lit. sense) restricted to industrial tools, and technically denoting chiefly chisels, gouges, planes, etc., also (with defining adj. heavy) axes, hatchets, etc. Also attrib. (The form edged tools is now used only in fig. sense.)
Oxford English Dictionary
Amalgamated Edge Tool Trade, Protection and Death Society of Birmingham and District
http://www.unionancestors.co.uk/AtoZ%20A.htm
Amalgamated Society of General Toolmakers, Engineers and Machinists
http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/ead/259TE.htm
Stan
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Hi, My Gt and Grandfather were Edge Tool Makers in Sheffield. They made cutlery, saws, knife sharpeners, etc. Also Silver Comb Makers. They were usually the smaller companies that had two or three workshops that made up a number of different items.
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Thanks, gales.
My problem is that I have an ancestor who worked most of his life as a farm bailiff, but turns up (if it is him; the age is right and there's no other likely lads around) in 1881 as "former edge tool maker".
I have the marriage cert in 1864 of his son (my gt-grandfather) and on that he is described as a "cutter", which sounds as though it could be connected. But you'd have thought (well, I'd have thought) that he'd refer to himself in old age as a "former farm bailiff", given it's a more impressive job.
Regards, Gareth
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Hi!
Here is a nice site showing some of the trademarks of edge-tool makers of the past
http://www.timelesstools.co.uk/tradelogos.htm
There was a large edge-tool manufacturer, Gilpin's, at Wedges Mills, near Cannock, Staffordshire. It was founded in 1791, and didn't close til the 1970s.
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Stan, if you haven't come across Edge Tool Maker as an occupation I assume you don't have any lowly Sheffield ancestors ;) My lot there were mostly either edge tool makers or file cutters ...
Here is the 'E' section of occupations of claimants in the Sheffield flood:
http://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/indexOccupations.cfm?initial=E
A few Edge Tool Makers and also other Edge Tool specialisations (File Cutter is much more common).
The home page of the above site is very interesting as is the following site about The Great Flood at Sheffield-1864:
http://www.mick-armitage.staff.shef.ac.uk/sheffield/flood.html
JAP
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HI , Garethboxing, In those days people often changed jobs. Send me some details of your Gt Gt I will have a look see if I can come up with something. gales
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Stan, if you haven't come across Edge Tool Maker as an occupation I assume you don't have any lowly Sheffield ancestors ;) My lot there were mostly either edge tool makers or file cutters ...
JAP
Hi Jap,
It was not me making the original query I knew what an edge tool maker was ;)
Stan
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Thanks, gales, but I'm fairly sure the "former edge tool maker" must be him.
His name was Thomas Dowdeswell, born 1806, and a labourer in Barton St Mary, Gloucester in 1841; by 1851 he is a bailiff on a farm at Upton St Leonards; still there in 1861 and 1871, though a widower by that last census. Then, in 1881, a widowed TD turns up as a boarder with the Dutson family in Barton St Michael.
I couldn't find any other likely TD, but you're welcome to look.
Regards, Gareth
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Just a thought on this interesting topic . . . surely a Tool Maker of any sort would have served an apprenticeship for several years. It seems unlikely to me that he would then have spent most of his life as a farm bailiff. Conversely, it would surely be difficult for a farm bailiff to become a skilled toolmaker?
I think I'd be looking for someone else . . .
Mike.
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Good point, Mike, but I wonder how rigidly that sort of thing was monitored. If somebody wanted to set up as a tool maker (and presumably was competent enough to make a living), would anyone have stopped him?
And, of course, a census enumerator would put down what he was told. But, as I said earlier, you'd expect someone with a responsible job like farm bailiff - on one census he was employing four men - would see that as his main career even if he dabbled in tool making?
The fact remains that, even allowing for the varied spellings of Dowdeswell around, there's nobody else that fits in 1881 and the only likely death is in Gloucester in 1888. Maybe this is one of those things we'll never know for sure. (Unless I can find a grave...)
Gareth
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A large 18th/19th century branch of my family lived and worked in Somerset. Most of them lived in or close to Great Elm, a rural village near Frome and the Fussells Ironworks at Mells. The majority were edge tool makers, clustered together in cottage accommodation, probably supplying the local agricultural community with digging and cutting equipment. I don't know if there was a central forge or if each family had its own forge. The family name was variously Gawen, Gawn, Gowen or (finally) Gowan. There is a possibility that they originated in Ireland, as my mother said that idea ran in the family, and my DNA results do confirm that I have some Irish roots. But I haven't managed to research that far back! PAFC.