On 27 April 1700, the Company of Cutlers granted a corporate mark – D* – to Thomas Nowill (c.1676-1704) as a ‘Maker of Knives’. After Thomas’s death, this mark was reissued in 1708 to his younger brother, William Nowill (c.1686-?). From William’s marriage to Ann Carr in 1711, two Nowill companies emerged: Nowill & Kippax and John Nowill & Sons.One of William’s sons was David Nowill (1733-1775), to whom the D* mark passed in 1764. David’s so....