Backstreet capitalism: An analysis of the family firm in the nineteenth-century Sheffield cutlery industry

Abstract

Drawing upon a database compiled using digital sources, this article explores the development and characteristics of over 1000 Sheffield cutlery enterprises. In Sheffield cutlery, the family was virtually synonymous with the firm. Large factories were rare, with no more than a dozen businesses employing more than 250 workers by 1914. Foreign manufacturers or merchants were sparse, too, and only about 20 have been found operating in Sheffield in the nineteenth century. Businesses drew their strength in the first instance from individual family skills, within a quintessentially craft-based industry. The backstreet nature of most cutlery enterprises enabled women (and children) to play a key role in both the home and factory – sometimes providing additional support through their involvement in the beer houses and shops that many families operated as a second enterprise. Companies often formed miniature family dynasties, reflecting the father-to-son nature of the trade and the connectedness (sometimes through marriage) with other families. Digital sources should allow other family-based English industries or clusters to be recreated in similar detail.