William Grant (1870-1946) was the son of Walter (a table knife grinder) and his wife, Anne.  The family lived at Addy Street, Upperthorpe.   William followed his father’s occupation.  In 1895, he married Norah Marshall in Sheffield and the couple left for America,.  William worked in South Meriden, Connecticut, where his first son, Arnold Walter (1897-1971), was born.  By 1901, the Grants had returned to Sheffield, where William resumed work as a table knife grinder.  A second son, Cyril, was born in Sheffield in 1902.  

By 1919, William Grant & Sons was active as a cutlery manufacturer at Bishop Street.   In 1925, when the firm’s address was Eldon Street and Bishop Street, William and his sons went into partnership with Thomas Ward & Sons, of Warrington.  This proved short-lived and William Grant continued to trade independently.   In 1928, William introduced his ‘GRANTON EDGE’ knife.  When it appeared at trade exhibitions, it was described thus:

It has a serrated edge, but is not a saw knife.  There was scepticism when it was first introduced, but sales have gone ahead and demonstrate its great popularity.  It has hollow ground scallops on alternate sides all along the edge of the blade, and these give it its special qualities.  The effect is to make it a good cutter and to cause the edge to become sharper as it is worn.  It lends itself splendidly to ‘steeling’.  Unlike the saw edge pattern, it is not confined almost exclusively to bread knives , but is manufactured in table, butchers’, ham and similar patterns (Sheffield Daily Independent, 21 February 1931).

Additional claims were that the novel design lightened the blade, without affecting rigidity, and prevented meat and fish sticking to the knife.  In 1937, Grant’s became a private limited company (capital £5,000) at Granton Works, Eldon Street.  After the War, the business was based at Arundel Street.  William Grant died in Sheffield on 15 November 1946.  He was buried at Abbey Lane Cemetery (where his wife, Norah, had been buried in 1923, aged 43).   He left £8,549.   Probate was granted to his widow, Ethel Beatrice, and his sons.  The latter continued the family cutlery business.  Cyril died on 6 July 1963, leaving £32,905.   Arnold remained as director and head of the company until his death on 31 January 1971, aged 74.  His estate was valued at £15,693.  

By the 1980s, Grant & Cork (Sheffield) Ltd was formed, after the takeover of Thomas W. Cork.  Its successor by the 1990s was The Granton Knife Company.  Finally, in 2005 the assets were absorbed by Ragg to form Granton Ragg Ltd.  In 2014, this firm manufactured ‘Granton Edge’ professional knives from Parkway, Shef-field.  In 2022, Granton Knives were marketed from an office at Carlise Street.

‘Granton Edge’ professional knives are still being manufactured in Sheffield for Catering, Food Processing and Industrial Markets worldwide (January 2023).

http://www.granton-knives.co.uk/