Bullnose Infill Plane - help with ID

[Mike.S]

As some of you may have noticed from my posts, I'm going through a tool collection acquired from a retired antique furniture restorer. This time I'm asking for help with an intriguing (for personal reasons) item - a bullnose plane, with rosewood (I think) infill:

Took it apart to assess whether it might benefit from at least some of the crud being cleaned off (despite AndyT's protestations not to clean old tools ).

No name evident on the plane's body but the wedge showed some initials (H.W.R. I think) and this:

Anyone guessed what the S in Mike S. stands for?

OK, so whilst Suckling is an uncommon surname, there's a few of us about (it was Admiral Nelson's mum's maiden name, and his Uncle Maurice Suckling who signed him up to the Navy aged 12, so there :roll: ). Then I look at the iron:

Goldhawke Road (sometimes spelt Goldhawk) grabs my attention because my father lived, as a youngster, in Dalling Road (off of Goldhawk Road) in Shepherd's Bush (Hammersmith, West London).

Right, might all be coincidence, and other than revealing more of my history than some wanted to know what do I want to know? That would be the maker of the iron: [?] House. An online search hasn't thrown up anything. Barley's BS&SM book records a John House (but with a King Street, Hammersmith stamp). With no name/markings on the plane, the iron is the only clue as to the maker.

Can anyone throw any suggestions/ideas on who this House might be?

I appreciate the plane is not a particularly fine example or valuable in a monetary sense but I'd like to know more for, hopefully, self-evident reasons.

 

[AndyT]

What a fascinating find! It would be lovely if you could find any evidence of your ancestor being a previous owner. I guess if we can narrow down the likely date and place it would have been bought, and if you can see that the only Sucklings in the area in the right trade at the right time were your people, that would be evidence enough.

All I can do to help so far is to say that there were two Goldhawk Roads in London, one in Shepherds Bush and one in Hammersmith.

This site gives a composite list of Victorian London streetnames and lists both:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/lonstr_g.html.

I also found this page in a 1899 street directory which confirms that there was a Goldhawk Road in Hammersmith:

http://leicester.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16445coll4/id/12124

So, the most likely ID for your plane vendor would be the J House that you already found in BSSM.

He's in BPM III as well, but with just the dates 1906-1908 and the one mark, with the address of 119 King Street, Hammersmith.

As you know, BSSM has him as a dealer in cutlery, so he was probably buying all sorts of tools as well, marked with his own name. The brevity of the entry suggests that there is nothing more known, bar the directory entries.

So, my theory for now is that he actually traded for a bit longer, and had premises at a second address, still in Hammersmith, or possibly nearby in Shepherds Bush, but at Goldhawk Road, as evidenced by your plane.

 

[DonMc]

Hi Mike,

I have found an 1878 listing for Joseph House, cutler, at 17 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush W., Middlesex County. He doesn't show up in the 1874 listing for that location, and it appears that at some point, Shepherd's Bush was redefined as part of Hammersmith, which, in turn, was incorporated as part of London. There are later listings for a Joseph House, cutler, in London (1882 - 1899), but not on Goldhawk Road. Rather, they are for Little Windmill at Golden Square, Lexington Street and Glasshouse Street, W. Though I did find a listing for an Elizabeth House as keeper of the Goldhawk Inn during that period. Further information may emerge, but, so far, this evidence points toward the iron having been produced in the period between 1874 and 1882.

There is a John House, also listed as a cutler (and having a cutlery warehouse) at 119 (& 121) King Street, Hammersmith W. So far, the dates I've found for him range from 1906 to 1918.

Hope this helps.

Don McConnell
Eureka Springs, AR

 

[Mike.S]

Many thanks Sherlocks (aka Andy and Don)

Goldhawk Road is one long(ish) road that stretches from London W6 (Hammersmith) to W12 (Shepherds Bush). For those of us 'lucky' enough to live within London that makes sense (I'm in the County of Surrey, in the Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames but still encompassed by Greater London, despite not having a London postcode - confused?).

Now, this Joseph House of Goldhawk Road sounds promising (versus John House - relative?) and absent any further 'Houses' coming to light I'm gonna claim him as the maker of the iron. Is that fair - in terms of being a maker - or did 'Cutlers' also retail goods made by a.n.other and just stamp their name on? And, is it likely a 'cutler' would have made the plane as well or just bought that in to add his iron?

On the family side of things, my Dad's side are all from that area (going back 3 generations). When I asked dad (he's 87 and forgets my name sometimes ) he started reeling off numerous male family members (didn't they have large families back then!) but none with conviction in relation to carpenters etc. He did recall being chased down Chiswick High Street by a V1 buzz bomb though . Fortunately, I have several Aunts and Uncles (with better recollection) to pursue that avenue.

So, clarification on 'Cutlers' being makers versus retailers needs exploring but, absent any more Houses in Goldhawk Road, Joseph seems to be the man. =D>

 

[AndyT]

Ignore most of what I said above.

Now that I have had time to look at a map or two, I see that Goldhawk Road runs from Hammersmith to Shepherds Bush. It looks like two roads in a list, just because it runs through two boroughs.

At its southern end, it joins King Street, so it's even possible that 119 King Street Hammersmith and <unknown number> in Goldhawk Road were the same place described two ways.

EDIT: cross posted - you got there before me!

 

[Mike.S]

Andy, that's fine. If you'd known I'm a born and bred Londoner, whose wife has worked in Kings Street, Hammersmith and son currently works nearby, you'd understand I wasn't thrown!

As it happens I'm down in Ambereley at the TATHS museum on Wednesday, researching 'Bill Goodman's' Ultimatum brace, so I might try to glean some knowledge about what 'Cutlers' did from the TATHS member I'm meeting.

 

[AndyT]

Ah, have a great day!

As far as I know, "Cutler" although it had a special meaning in Sheffield, where the Cutlers' Company virtually ran the city, in London would have been a very elastic sort of title, covering anything from a maker of edge tools or table cutlery with a forge and a bench at the back of the shop, through companies that offered their own brands (made for them by their own staff or under contract) or sold other people's brands.

(Frankly, the whole bewildering range of 'own brand' / OEM / Premium brand / value range / unbranded generic is not a modern invention, nor is the idea of vertical integration. As far as I can see, there is nothing in the current world of branding and promotion, other than the channels used, that was not already thought of a century or more ago.