Vintage Canteen x 12 Silver Plated Cutlery Set Mid 20th Century

JOHN TURTON & COMPANY LTD
John Turton was active by 1849 as a spring knife maker in Meadow Street.  Later he lived at Walkley and by 1871 was a dealer in cutlery and electro-plate in Market Street.  He died at Carr Road on 17 April 1872, aged 54, leaving under £1,000.  He was buried in Fulwood.  John Turton was next listed at Times Buildings, Bow Street.  It seems likely that Turton’s widow, Harriet, continued the business.  In 1891, she described herself as a ‘retired cutlery merchant’, with her sons – Albert and Edgar – as cutlery travellers.  She died in 1895 and her sons had apparently retired by 1898.  John Turton & Co (presumably the same name) was listed at Australian Works, Malinda Street, in 1901.  The partners were Herbert Edward Buxton (1863-1930) and Harry England Bridgwater (1873-1949).

Buxton had been born in Dore, the son of a schoolmaster and civil registrar.  Bridgwater had been born in Stourbridge, the son of a spade and shovel plater.  In 1904 and 1905, the firm registered silver marks from Kendal Works, Arundel Street.  In 1910, the firm became ‘Ltd’ (share capital £7,500).  Turton’s manufactured (or marketed) stainless steel and electro-plated cutlery, and later specialised in hotel cutlery.  In the interwar period, Kendal Works was located in Carver Street, where it added teapots to its range.  Advertisements claimed establishment in 1800.  H.E. Buxton, Hartington Road, Millhouses, died on 1 October 1930, leaving £5,288.  He was buried in Norton.  Bridgwater, of Rushley Road, Dore, died in 1949, aged 75.  He left £12,204.  In the 1950s, Turton’s moved from Carver Street to Scotland Street.  The trade mark was ‘BUXBRIDGE’.  The firm had an agent in South Africa.  It was listed in directories until the 1970s.  In 1978, John Price of Arthur Price bought the former Turton premises in Scotland Street.