© Ken Hawley Collection Trust - K.0540
Founded in 1932 by Sidney Edgar Leppington (1889-1958), this table cutlery manufacturer was in Sidney Street. Its owner was born in Hunmanby, Bridlington, the son of James, a bricklayer, and his wife Annie. In about 1903, he started in the cutlery trade. By 1911, he was a commercial traveller in Sheffield; and by 1918 a manager. In the late 1920s, Leppington had a partner – Thomas Ibbotson – but in 1931 Leppington started his own business. It was registered in 1932 as a private limited company, with £1,000 capital, at Sydney Street. He later recalled that he began with only a typewriter and a card table but built up the business by extensive overseas travel (including a tour of 30,000 miles that took in Australia in 1947-48). The trade name was ‘CUTLASS’.
In 1952, Leppington acquired the assets of bankrupt George Butler, largely due to Ron West, who had married into the Leppington family. Henceforth, Leppington traded as George Butler & Co (Cutlers) Ltd, with Sidney as chairman. A photograph of Cutlass Works, Sidney Street, is in Wrigley (2005). Sidney Leppington died, aged 69, on 6 August 1958 at his home in Silver Hill Road, Ecclesall. His funeral was at Ecclesall, followed by cremation in Sheffield. He left £5,959. Ron West continued the business and in the late 1960s a profitable trade in steak knives and carving sets developed with US retail stores. The firm relied upon William Turner in Eyre Street for cutlery blanks. Eventually, the Leppington/Butler interests were sold to Ingersoll (who also acquired James Ryals & Co).