Salisbury cutlery industry

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'''The Salisbury Cutlery Industry'''. The production of [[cutlery]] was an important industry in [[Salisbury]] from late Medieval times until the start of the 20th century. While production was not on the scale of the Sheffield cutlery industry, the Salisbury cutlers were noted for the quality of their products. A reason given for success of the industry was the fineness of the steel produced, resulting from the quality of the local water, which came from the surrounding chalk downland. The [[Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum]] has a collection of Salisbury made cutlery and a scrapbook of trade-cards that were collected by the Salisbury Cutlers, James and Thomas Goddard, who were cutlers to [[George III]]. <ref>”Moore”, pg.8.</ref>

== References to the Industry.==
Poets sang the the praise of the industry. [[John Gay]] (1685-1735) in an epistle to [[Lord Burlington]] extolls Salisbury;
''Who can forsake thy walls and not admire
The proud Cathedral and the lofty spire?
What semptress has not proved thy scissors good?''

A couplet from the ''Bath Guide'' c.1820 runs:
''Let Bristol for commerce and dirt be renowned''
''At Salisbury let penknives and scissors be ground''

While a traditional saying attributes Salisbury’s fame to:
''The height of its steeple,''
''The pride of its people''
''Its scissors and knives''
''And diligent wives''

The earliest reference to a a cutler working in Salisbury was in c1270-80 when ‘‘Sebode the Cutiller'', held a tenement in Brown Street. <ref> Wordsworth C (1903), ''Cartulary of St. Nicholas Hospital'', pg.146</ref>
Nell Gwyn is said to have visited Salisbury to inspect the cutlery manufacture, and to have bought a pair of scissors for 100 guineas. [[John Aubrey]] wrote that Salisbury was 'ever-famous' for the manufacture of razors, scissors, and knives, <ref> “Critall" pg 130 </ref> and elegant objects of polished steel were still apparently an attraction for visitors at the beginning of the 19th century. (fn. 15) Late 18th-century directories list six cutlers in Salisbury, including in 1784 'M. Goddard, cutler to their Majesties', and in 1790 it was said that the city was noted for the manufacture of scissors. The trade continued throughout the 19th century; 7 cutlers are listed in a directory of 1822 and 10 in one of 1830, (fn. 18) and George III and the Duchess of Kent are said to have patronised members of the Botly family, cutlers of the Market Place. It was the custom to meet the London and Exeter coach and display cutlery to the passengers and it was afterwards said to have been 'no uncommon thing' to take £70 from a single coach.<ref>Stevens F, (1914) Festival Book pg. 71</ref> James Macklin, a working cutler was Mayor of Salisbury at the outbreak of the [[1st World War]] was knighted as a result of his work for the War effort. <ref>"Moore"pg 9</ref>

==References==



==Literature.==
Critall E (1962) ''Salisbury: Economic history since 1612'', A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6, London, pp. 129-132.

Haskins C. (1912) ''Ancient Trade Guilds and Companies of Salisbury''.

Moore C.N. (undated but ?1971) ''The Salisbury Cutlery Industry'', Wiltshire Industrial Archaeology, the magazine of the Salisbury and South Wilts Industrial Archaeology Society, No4, pp.7-14.

==External Links==
British History Online [ https://ift.tt/2O4ulxq ] [accessed 10 November 2018].
[[Category:Industries]]

[[Category:Metallurgical industry of the United Kingdom]]

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