Sleigh Rowland was born in Sheffield on 29 April 1800, the son of Sleigh and Ann Rowland.  He was baptised in St Peter’s Church.  His father was probably a cutler.  Leader (1905-6)¹ listed several Sleigh Rowlands, who were active in the late eighteenth century.  By 1833, this Sleigh was a table knife manufacturer at Don Works, Millsands, with a residence in Broad Lane.  He later worked in Arundel Lane (1837).  In 1841, he was a manufacturer of table, bread, butcher, shoe, and palette knives at Surrey Works.  This was in Granville Street, where Sleigh lived with his wife Sarah née Wilson and family of nine children.  Evidently, Sleigh traded with the USA and table knives marked with his name are depicted in Levine (1997)².  In the early 1840s, economic conditions were grim.  Sleigh had to deal with thefts of his knives and the rattening (trade union sabotage) of his grindstones at Blonk Grinding Wheel, Blonk Island (Sheffield Independent, 7 May 1842).  In 1843, Sleigh had the grisly job of cutting down his 77-year-old father-in-law – William Wilson, a silversmith – after he hanged himself at Sleigh’s home (Sheffield Independent, 15 April 1843).  Later that year, Sleigh became insolvent and sold off his tools, stock, and household furniture (Sheffield Independent, 15 July 1843).

He emigrated to America with his family.  His subsequent career can be traced partly in the American Census.  By 1850, he and his family were living in New Brighton, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.  This later became the location of a well-known cutlery venture involving Samuel Mason.  Sleigh was naturalised in 1854, when he gave his address as Greenfield, Massachusetts (the home of the John Russell Cutlery Co).  By 1860, Sleigh and Sarah were in the Midwest, trying a spell at farming in Marion, Iowa.  The last sighting of them is in 1870, when the Census enumerated them in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.  Sleigh was working as a cutler again in a location that was linked with Lamson & Goodnow, one of America’s major manufacturers of table knives.  Sarah died in 1870.  Sleigh died at Buckland, Franklin County, Massachusetts, on 4 August 1878, aged 78.  He was buried in Arms Cemetery, Shelburne Falls.  A fellow Sheffielder, Enos Dewsnap, was to be buried in the same cemetery.

^1. Leader, R E, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire in the County of York (Sheffield, 1905-6)  

^2. Levine, B, Levine’s Guide to Knives and Their Values (Northbrook, IL, 4th edn, 1997)