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Pioneers and PersonalitiesMEN OF THOSE DAYSAlthough this issue celebrates two hundred years by Sanderson Kayser and its direct forerunners in steel, the story of the Attercliffe Works goes back much further - nearly four centuries in fact, to 1585. That was the year when George Talbot, Sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord of the Manor of Sheffield, started the Attercliffe Forges, installing forge fineries and hammers to make charcoal wrought iron from pig iron smelted in blast furnaces at Wadsley and Rotherham. Talbot was interested in ironmaking just as he was concerned with other ways of producing wealth from the land. Bacon, in his "Essay on Riches" describes him as "a great grazier, a great sheepmaster, a great collier, a great cornmaster, a great lead man and so of iron and a number of like parts of husbandry". To most history students, however, Talbot is best known for the fact that, at Elizabeth's command, he held Mary, Queen of Scots a prisoner in Sheffield for fourteen years. He was also the fourth husband of Bess of Hardwick, builder of Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House. When the male line of the Shrewsbury's died out, the Works were let to the Copleys and their partners. Lionel Copley of Rotherham (1607-1675) ran the Works for many years together with Wardsend Forge, Rotherham Forge and the Chapeltown Blast Furnace. Copley fought on the Parliament side in the Civil War. He claimed compensation for the works and furnaces being commandeered by the Earl of Newcastle to make cannon balls and guns during the War. Copley's eldest son became Governor of Maryland. After Copley's death a syndicate took the Works, but control soon passed to the Fell family and their associates. John Fell 1(1666-1724) was the first of the Attercliffe ironmasters of that name. He was succeeded by his son John Fell II (1696-1762) who as Managing Partner really made things "go". In addition to Attercliffe the company had associated works in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Fell also manufactured cementation steel in furnaces at Ballifield (Handsworth) and at Worksop Road, Attercliffe. Acting as his own salesman, Fell made trips across the Pennines to the North West. Shown in the Forge accounts are his expenses for entertaining customers: £5 a year. Richard Swallow I (1729-1801) was assistant to John Fell and the successor to him at Attercliffe Forge, Cementation Furnace and associated Works. An unsung cast steel pioneer he erected crucible furnaces in Attercliffe on ground rented from the Duke of Norfolk and installed rolling mills and tilts for steel production at Attercliffe Forge. And the workpeople at the Forge in those days? Undoubtedly, many stayed on for generation after generations Some early names are Brookshaw, Powell, Hussey, Tyler, Vintin, and in old accounts they recur again and again. John Fell left substantial legacies to his head workmen. In the nineteenth century, the Simpson family gave outstanding service. An Abraham Simpson started at Attercliffe in 1814 under his Uncle James Lee or Leigh. His son, also Abraham, born 1850, is still remembered by retired servants of the Company. He was Sheet Mill Manager for many years and an employee until his death in 1924. A third generation representative Samuel Simpson, spent all his working life with the Company, including thirty years as Sheet Mill Roller. Digressing now from early iron and steel to the tool trade pioneers, we make no excuse for bringing in the Kenyon's whose firm became a Sanderson subsidiary. James and Joseph Kenyon were apprenticed in Sheffield in the opening days of the eighteenth century. Joseph, after serving the due term of eight years apprenticeship as a filesmith, founded the firm of John Kenyon & Co. in 1710. The firm soon began making cementation steel and saws as well as files. They built up a considerable export trade with Europe, not only for their own products but for everything that Sheffield manufactured, and were not above making up the shipload with miscellaneous goods such as: "ale, ivory pocket knives, silk and worsted stockings, a clock, a mahogany table and a looking glass with a mahogany frame." Joseph Kenyon died in 1753 and was ably succeeded by his sons James and Joseph whose travellers scoured the Continent for orders. Despite the staff's enterprise and energy, slight hiccoughs occurred in the transaction of business as witness a letter written to a customer in Genoa in 1758: "With your order for files we had tonight a misfortune that the meiss have eaten it; begg you to be so kind as to send us a copy of that order". The Newboulds, whose firm became incorporated into Sanderson's in 1901. produced some lively characters. Thomas Newbould must have been a man of some energy and presence, for he became Master Cutler at the relatively early age of 37. His son Samuel Newbould lived to be 90. When Earl Fitzwilliam celebrated his son's coming-of-age T. Asline Ward recorded in his diary "S. Newbould (active as ever) was at the grand ball at Wentworth House." Samuel was then eighty-two years of age. Well known steel industry names associated with Sanderson's included the Firths. Both Mark Firth and his brother Thomas gained their early training at Sanderson's, Mark being on the commercial side and Thomas in the Works. They left in 1842 to start their own business, in which they were eventually joined by their father, Thomas Firth, who had been head melter at West Street. MASTER CUTLEREdward Tozer was at Sanderson's for 44 years from 1831 to 1875. He became joint Managing Director in 1869, together with Charles Henry Halcomb. On leaving Sanderson's, Tozer in 1875, joined Henry Steel and T. Hampton in taking over the Phoenix Bessemer Works,. which ultimately became Steel. Peech and Tozer. Edward Tozer was Master Cutler in 1875-76. Another personality at the Sanderson Works was William Ellis Smith (1816-1868) who was manager at West Street. He later went to the U.S.A. as representative with an address at Sanderson Bros., 16 Cliffe Street, New York. There were eccentrics too, William Stenton, a minor partner, who left on the reorganisation in 1829 had made himself very unpopular and the Sanderson's must have been glad to be rid of him: 'In conclusion would you permit me to refer to 'Devil Stenton"? He was brought up in the warehouse of the late Miss Harrison, but it was when at Naylor & Sanderson's he got his name. At that time the imprecations uttered against him by the cutlers were loud, bitter and deep from the manner in which they were treated by him. "Devil" Stenton left Naylor and Sanderson's to enter into partnership with the late George Wostenholm to begin trading with America … but as they could not agree, the partnership was soon dissolved…" - Letter from J. Muscroft to a Sheffield newspaper, 16 August, 1873. Of a very different calibre was Edward Fisher Sanderson (1800-1866). He represented the firm in America for many years, but on the death of his father, John, in 1852, and on the death of his uncle, James, in 1953, he succeeded to their respective shares and returned to the Works as Senior Partner. He went to live at Endcliffe Grange, which had been left him by his Uncle James. John Percy, whose classic work 'Metallurgy" was published in 1864, received valuable guidance from E.F. Sanderson in the preparation of the section on the manufacture of cementation and crucible steel. Charles William Kayser (1841-1906) was another leading figure in the Victorian industrial scene. A Scissor Smith from Solingen in Rhenish Prussia he came to England in 1860 and became a naturalized British citizen in 1864. Joining Wilson, Hawksworth, Moss and Ellison from Cocker Bros. in 1869 he soon made his mark at the firm, negotiating bank finance during a difficult time and carrying out a major reorganisation. Under his management the firm eventually became Kayser Ellison & Co. and in 1895 it was registered as a public company. C.W. Kayser's diary for 1901 makes mention of Harry Brearley, the inventor of stainless steel who worked as chemist for Kayser, Ellison & Co. Ltd. until 1904. C.W. Kayser, Junior (died 1947) ably succeeded his father in control of the firm. Alfred Ewing (1882-1950) guided Sanderson's through the black days of the pre-war recession. Born in Scotland, he trained as an engineer and spent his earlier career with various mining enterprises, becoming Chairman of The Climax Rock Drill & Engineering Company Limited. Joining the S.B. & N. Board in 1931, he was appointed Managing Director and continued in that position until his death. He was a man of considerable presence who inspired confidence in those who worked for him. Under his leadership the Company came through some very difficult times.  
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