The Cutlers - The Company Today

The Company\\'s Collections

THE COMPANY'S COLLECTIONS

The Company’s collections are still being expanded by gifts from people associated with the Company and members of the public.  A number of silver pieces have been added to the collection, including the year pieces for 2008, given by the immediate Past Master Gordon Bridge and by the Master Cutler, Martin Howell for 2009.  The 2008 piece is a goblet for the principal guest and was designed and made by Corin Mellor, a Freeman of the Company, while the 2009 piece is an elegant candelabrum made by Brett Payne.

Mr and Mrs David Lee, Master and Mistress Cutler in 1976 gave a number of items to the Company, importantly two pastel portraits – of Mr Lee’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Percy Lee, Master and Mistress in 1927.  The charming portrait of Mrs Lee hangs in the Mistress’ room and brings to three, the number of portraits of Mistresses Cutler in the Hall – the other two being Lady Brown and Mrs Jessop.

During the 1990s, Commander Rodwell gave almost 750 open razors to the Company, a part of his private collection and by his will, the remainder of this collection came to the Company in late 2008.  The bequest included approximately 500 more razors, together with documents relating to the research into razors and razormaking, carried out by Commander Rodwell. The whole collection is being cleaned, photographed and accessioned into the collection’s database.  The vast majority of the razors are ‘ordinary’ and standard products of manufacturers, but the collection has examples from an impressive list of Sherffield manufacturers from the19th and 20th centuries, and from Germany, France and even China.

Many enquiries are received from people tracing their ancestors who might be in the Company’s records, including one  from Ireland, where a TV company was making an episode of ‘Who do you think you are?’  Their celebrity appeared to have links with Sheffield in the mid-19th century, to a man who was a scale cutter (preparing bone, ivory or horn for knife handles).  Unfortunately, the man was not in our records, but the team came, with the celebrity, and filmed some of the Company’s records, knives and open razors to demonstrate what the ancestor would have done.  The celebrity was Rosanna Davidson, a former Miss World (2003) and the daughter of the singer Chris de Burgh.

In May, the Master and Mistress Cutler hosted a presentation evening for GCSE pupils from King Ecgbert’s School, who had made a number of silver items for their design projects. The fifteen pieces were impressive and many of the items were innovative– sprung chopsticks, for instance – and some of the pupils showed real promise. The Master and Mistress wished that others could see them at the Feast and they were displayed in the Silver Vestibule, drawing appreciative comments.