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Re: William Goddard

Hi Dave,
I have pictures of the knife but can't upload them on here?
If he did have some sort of business it's this what I would love to find more info on. I literally don't know where to start!



Thanks,

Vanessa

Re: William Goddard

Hi Elaine,



Thank you so much for all this info.
It's all really interesting.
I do know that there are more knives that other family members have got and my great grandad was a cutler too hence the William Goddard and sons on the knife itself.
But I am so grateful for the information you have given me as there's very little regarding his work.



Kind Regards,


Vanessa

Re: William Goddard

Vanessa, please send the picture to my emailand I will get it on the forum.
Dave

Re: William Goddard

Hi Vanessa,

From the directories on this site.
Whites Directory 1905.
William Goddard (table knife hafter)
Address: 32 Charlotte Road.

Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 20 December 1899.
Fire at a Sheffield Cutlery Works.
Xylonite Again The Cause.
Occured in Charlotte Street, at the works of Messrs. C. Parkin & Son.
Parts of the premises are tenanted by Mr. William Goddard who is
a "little mester" in the cutlery trade. He occupies a portion of the
second floor on one side of the building. Mr Goddard was busy and a
spark flew from the highly flammable material. Mr Goddard his son
and other workers tried to put it out but made a hasty retreat.
Mr Goddard and son were slightly injured by the flames but not
seriously. Goddard's place was gutted and roof all burnt off. (Abridged).

Moira.

Re: William Goddard



Hi Moira,



This is really really good 😊
And all fits in my timeline too.
His son George would have been 18/19 at the time.
This was Williams occupation all his life, so to have an address of where he was based, even if he was only a "little mester"
Is fantastic
Thank you so much for taking the time out to look, much appreciated!



Regards,

Vanessa

Re: William Goddard

Here are the links to Vanessa's 2 pictures

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3jm7ovrxfr9snp/goddard2.jpeg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d16pjortuahv5m3/Goddard.jpeg?dl=0

I hope they will be live this time

Vanessa, your ancestor was working at a very difficult time for Sheffied cutlers. The newspaper archive contains hundreds of articles from the period on Xylonite, Little Mesters and the American politics which severely dammaged the industry (McKinley Tariff).
Xylonite (nitrocellulose) was the first plastic to be used to simulate ivory.
There are many reports of fires (even explosions) and of court cases where men were punished for selling Xylonite knives as genuine ivory. There was a thriving and honest trade in mass producing such knives for export, until McKinley stepped in.
There is one report that traditional cutler objector to the use of Xylonite put a match to a knife in front of the home secretary and it virtually exploded.
Be careful where you store your knife.
Dave

Re: William Goddard

Dave,


Jeez, sounds like it was a bit of a tough time for him.
Thanks for this.

Regards,

Vanessa