© Ken Hawley Collection Trust - K.2763
Wilson & Co was owned by Arthur Trott (1875-1930). He had been born in Sheffield, the son of Mark and Mary Trott, who came from Norfolk. Mark was a gas stoves manager, who when he died in 1907 was described as having been ‘for many years in the employ of the Sheffield United Gas Light Co’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 2 December 1907). Arthur was, in turn, a post office boy, a pearl cutter manager, and manager of a pearl and ivory merchant. He started his own business in about 1916 as a fibre scale manufacturer. He was apparently successful, but this trade came to a standstill at the end of the War. In early 1919, he began producing cutlery as Wilson & Co. Why he chose ‘Wilson’ is a puzzle, though he may have wanted to use a name more closely linked with Sheffield cutlery than Trott.
His workshop was on the top floor of a 3-storey building at 27 Eyre Street. On the floor beneath was G. Green, a pearl cutter (perhaps Trott’s previous employer). Wilson & Co was described as a cutlery and electro-plate manufacturer, though it is likely that Trott’s workers were mostly involved in finishing and packaging products made by others. In 1923, Trott’s workshop was hit by a fire, which caused £800 damage (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 15 November 1923). In the following year, Trott was bankrupt with debts of £788 against assets of £166. He blamed bad debts, small profits, a slump in trade, fire damage, and lack of capital (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 31 January, 8 February 1924). He later worked as a clerk. He died on 30 May 1930 at his home, 74 Wayland Road, and was buried in consecrated ground at City Road Cemetery.