Ward and Watts Cutlery

This is a photo of the 1943 John Watts British Marine Commando and British Army 1945 issue pocketknives. The bexoid handle knives with marlin spike were standard but inspired many civilian copies.

Fredrick Ward

Originally founded in 1765 by Fredrick Ward but acquired by John Watts from 1855 to 1953 who then held the rights to the "B4 ANY" trademark.

Some other well known Sheffield companies made these also to specific military ordinance:
*1939 Richards
*1943 W&S Butcher
*1945 Thomas Turner (Burma Knife)
*1953 J.H. Thompson (NATO Knife)

There were many variations on these standard themes:
*no marlin spike
*no shackle
*different scale materials

The standard British Army pattern changed by 1939. Watts was working in the Lambert Works building on Lambert St. in Sheffield and his office in London.

 The company made Bowie type knives as well as cutlery of all types.

John Watts cutlery manufactory remained dormant from 1970 to 2002. Earlier the factory did develop steadily however. In 1850 an Ordnance Survey map shows dwelling houses with overbuilt courts to the rear, whilst the 1890 edition shows a large works complex incorporating the earlier dwellings. The Cutlery District in Sheffield after the Nazi Blitzkrieg one by one went belly up and out of business.

In 1939 there were 500 little mesters and 500 out worker penknife and pocketknife cutlers. In the late 1960's specialist craftsmen (little mesters) worked in a separate rooms they rented in the many available defunct factories. At John Watts the thing was all these expert "top quality" men were aged, the majority over 70 some over 80.  One by one they suffered an illness or died, it was by then impossible to find replacements. Their work in hand was eventually left on the bench until the rooms were then simply locked up and left just as it was while the Sheffield City Council did not even notice. The Working Party recommendations back in the1950's were of strict quality production, imposing rules of excellence with sanctions against infringement, regularly updated machinery, standardized blanks and component parts.

This is a photo of a Commonwealth Military Knife by John Watts with Vulcanite grips, no broad arrow ordinance mark, and plated with an alloy called "PLATINOID" (which has similar properties to platinum). Some have a "SSP" marking (Sheffield Steel Products) from 1918 to the 1960's. Sheffield Steel Corporation owns rolling mills and manufactures, fabricates, and sells steel products in the United States currently.

Works on Lambert Street was one of the last surviving factories retain structural elements of three centuries of continuous expansion and alteration with five separate property divisions. These were originally developed as independent sites and gradually amalgamated by John Watts and his son during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Two of the earliest structures on the site were stone-roofed cottages which had been incorporated into later buildings, being completely concealed by the addition of a suspended floor and workshop range above the roof line at second-floor level. The workshops and machine halls for the whole manufacturing process. Packaging rooms, safes, and cupboards in the accounts office, benches, machines and extensive line shafting in the workshops and buffing rooms.

The factory management continued because of the large amount of assets in the abandoned location but changed to: JOHN WATTS ABRASIVE CUTTERS LIMITED 03803297 Registered on 07/08/1999 Sheffield, South Yorks, S4 7WS Norfolk Bridge Business Park Foley Street

This business has been inactive in their field in the UK market since 1970 and a dormant company since 2013. The executives are:
*Nicholas David Oliver Williams
*Mrs Susan Gwendoline Williams

**Nicholas David Oliver Williams is a director in ten other companies as well.
 **Mrs Susan Gwendoline Williams is a director in two other companies and a secretary in five other companies.

Mr. Williams prevoiusly was a draughtsman working for Firth Brown Tools Ltd. on Carlisle Street East Sheffield from 1963 - 1970.

*Mike Bishop (Managing Director Engineer) of John Watts Ltd. from 1972-2000.

**Mike Bishop previously worked as a Product Design Engineer for Firth Brown Tools Ltd. from 1963-1972.

In September 1994, Roger Smith of KPMG Peat Marwick was appointed Liquidator for the purpose "winding-up" John Watts cutlery company.

The John Watts Cutlery factory is currently renting loft apartments inside this landmark site.