The Furness family was involved in the manufacture of Barlow knives in Stannington.   Luke Furnace [sic] was listed in 1787 as a maker of ‘spotted knives’ in 1787, using the mark ‘1760’.   In the early 1800s, several Furnace / Furniss members (George, John, Robert, and Robert Jun.) were making pocket knives in Stannington.  

The most prominent family line stemmed from Matthew Furness (c. 1808-1875) and his wife Eliza (c. 1812-?).   They had several sons:  Enos (c.1836-1905), Edward (c. 1837-1907), Matthew Jun. (1839-1908), Ralph (c. 1845-1917), George Brown (1847-1909), and Charles (1854-1895).   During the nineteenth century, these individuals combined spring cutlery manufacturer with farming and occasionally running public houses.   The most prominent cutlers were Edward and Matthew Jun.  In 1871, Matthew Furness & Sons (with Matthew Jun. and Edward Sen. as partners) was listed in Stannington.   By 1879, Edward Furness & Sons, spring knife manufacturers, posted a small advertisement in the Sheffield directory.  The Furness family was based in Liberty Hill, Stannington, where many of the houses and gardens doubled as workshops and small factories (see Luke Oates).   

Later directories show Charles and Edward Furness, Liberty Hill (1883); Edward Furness (1889); Edward and Matthew Furness (1895-8).   By the 1890s, George Furness was making pocket knives and running Rivelin Hotel, Tofts Lane.  Charles Furness became a cutler / publican in Little Matlock.   Their lives are little recorded.  However, Edward appeared in the local press in 1873 after being summoned and fined for being drunk and refusing to leave Cross Daggers Inn, Bradfield.  In 1889, Matthew was fined for illegally shooting pigeons (Sheffield Independent, 11 January 1873, 17 April 1889).   

By the late 1880s, one customer for these low-price Furness Barlows was B. Worth & Sons, which subsequently shipped the knives to the USA alongside its own goods.  One of the partners, Joseph B. Himsworth, recalled how George Furness would travel from Stannington to Sheffield by pony and trap: ‘the advent of George, usually on a Saturday morning, was like a breath of fresh air from the country’.  In notes Himsworth compiled for his subsequent history of cutlery, he described how George had a rough workshop at the bottom of his garden, which also had a pig sty.  A treadle lathe supplied the power; blades were taken into the Rivelin Valley for grinding:

All members of the family, father, mother, and children – even at eight years of age – took part in the work.  The coverings of the scales of these knives were usually made of bone, sawn to size and shape, without any further filing.  They were then dyed a very deep purple in a bath made from a decoction of logwood chips.  After drying, the scales were pinned to the metal parts (Himsworth papers, Hawley Collection).

Edward and Matthew died within a year of each other (Edward on 13 December 1907, leaving £1,133).  Like many members of the family, they were buried in Stannington churchyard.   George Brown Furness, Under Tofts, Stannington, died on 18 October 1909, leaving £845.  After his death in 1909, his widow Sarah operated Rivelin Hotel until her death in 1911.  Edward’s widow, Martha (c. 1843-1929), continued to be listed briefly as a spring knife manufacturer, Liberty Hill.  Albert Furness (1876-1957) continued his father George’s tradition of running the Rivelin Hotel and making knives almost until his death on 15 April 1957, aged 81 (Dyson, 2013).  He left £7,091.  Goins (1998)¹ has photographs of Furness Barlow knives with bone handles and integral steel liners / bolsters.   According to Goins, Matthew Furness continued to use the ‘1760’ mark and other Furness knives were marked ‘M F & S’, ‘E F & S’, and ‘G F & S’.   The mark ‘FURNESS KNIVES’ was listed by Woodhead (1991)² under Charles Furness, Stannington, who may be the cutler discussed above.

^1. Goins, J  E, and Goins, C, Goins’ Encyclopedia of Cutlery Markings (Indianapolis, 1998) 

^2. Woodhead, Eileen, Trademarks on Base-Metal Tableware (Ottawa, Canada Parks Service, 1991)