The Wright family had been associated with the boring, hardening, and tempering of scissors for several generations.  One of them, Walter Wright, was a hard-drinking scissors borer, who rented a workshop room in Leicester Street (off Upper St Philip’s Road) from Brookes & Crookes.  William eventually worked alongside his son, Ernest Wright (1880-1954), who established his own business in 1902.  Ernest lived in Greenhow Street, Walkley.   After the First World War, Ernest Wright moved from Leicester Street to nearby Weston Street.  According to a company history (Wright, 1977¹), he could carry more scissors on his shoulder than anyone in Sheffield (about 2,000 blades at a time).  He was joined by his son, also named Ernest, who was born on 29 January 1912.  By 1928, son had joined father and the little mester operation also employed a part-time female bow dresser.

In 1938, Ernest Wright Ltd was formed with £400 capital and the firm relocated to Talbot Works, Reed Street.  It employed about seventeen workers.  The founder was semi-retired by 1940.  In 1954, the trade name ‘KUTRITE’ was registered and three years later a new factory, Kutrite Works, was opened in 1963 in Smithfield.  Another generation became active, when the sons of Ernest Wright Jun. – John Graham and Philip Ernest – joined the business.  Expansion began in the 1960s, with the takeover of Richard Mather & Son and Alfred Booth & Son – both scissors makers.  Tool firms Hale Bros Ltd and J. B. Ridge Ltd (twist gimlet makers, established 1868) were also acquired, which took Wright’s into tool manufacture.   Managers from outside the family were recruited (see George C. Fella).

In 1977, during another round of expansion, this family business changed its name to Kutrite.  At its peak, the Smithfield company employed 45 workers at Smithfield and a similar number of outworkers.  However, in the 1980s the workforce fell and the firm made losses (it was a period when the number of Sheffield scissors firms fell from about 60 to 14).  In 1989, Wright’s business was liquidated and this marked the departure of Graham Wright.  However, the Kutrite name was resurrected at Kelham Works, Russell Street.  In 2010, Philip Wright was chairman and managing director, with sales director Nick Wright as the fifth generation in the family.   But it was a small operation, with only three skilled ‘putters-together’ of scissors and all past retirement age.  In 2010, the firm was rebranded under the original name of ‘Ernest Wright & Son Ltd’, while retaining the old names and marks:  Hale Bros, George Deakin, Robert Bateman, Samuel Hancock & Son, Henry Crookes, and Russell Shears.   

In 2011, the firm under Nick Wright moved to Endeavour Works, Broad Lane.  In 2016, a ‘crowdfunding’ appeal raised cash, but overwhelmed the firm with thousands of orders.  In February 2018, Nick Wright, aged 48, was found dead at his home.  He had committed suicide.  In June 2018, Ernest Wright’s was liquidated.  However, Paul Jacobs and Jan Bart Fanoy bought all the assets from the Receiver and immediately re-hired key former employees.  Vintage patterns of scissors, including general purpose, paper hanger and quilting models, were brought back into production, alongside the traditional Kutrite pattern of kitchen scissors.

^1. Wright, Philip E, 75 Years of History (Sheffield, 1977)