Advertisement from 1937
Sheffield Cutlery Co-operative Productive Society was formed in 1866 by three trades’ union branches of the spring-knife trade. The Society, at Unity Works, Eldon Street, was registered in 1873, with under a hundred members and share capital under £400. But in good years, such as 1890, it had sales (chiefly to co-operative societies) of nearly £2,000 and a profit of £288. The dividend was distributed among workers and customers (Sheffield Independent, 7 November 1896). By 1900, the Society manufactured scissors and razors. The Sheffield Provident Cutlery Trading & Manufacturing Society (with its ‘UNITY’ trade mark) may have been the same organisation.
In 1904, though, the Society sought assistance from the co-operative movement and in 1915 was taken over by the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) Ltd. The CWS operated its cutlery branch at 58 Arundel Lane and then in 1937 occupied a purpose-built factory, Unity Works, at Eyre Street/Matilda Street (Sheffield Daily Independent, 1 October 1937). It produced stainless tableware and horticultural implements, until the 1960s (when it was known as Unity Cutlery).