Williams, Alfred

In the 1891 Census, Alfred Williams was described as a 26 year-old ‘cutlery export agent’, who had been born in Paignton, Devon. In 1893, he was listed in the city directory as a ‘cutlery manufacturer’ in Rockingham Street, though he was essentially a merchant. By 1901, he lived in Crescent Road, Sharrow. Williams specialized in selling cutlery to America. He forged a connection with Kastor Bros, a German family that had settled in the USA and started manufacturing and importing cutlery to beat the tariff on imported goods. In the 1890s, he helped Kastors buy knives from the old Sheffield firm of Joseph Wostenholme. By 1906, Wolstenholm was defunct, but Kastors and Williams acquired the name and its ‘EBRO’ trade mark. A legal action by George Wostenholm & Son ended that venture. By 1913, Williams had an interest in W. & S. Butcher in Arundel Street, with Charles Leslie Butcher and Sigmund Kastor as partners. After the war – when Williams was based in Eyre Street and 39 Arundel Street – the connection was revived. ‘Alfred Williams’ became a common US import brand, especially on Bowie knives. These had the Alfred Williams’ name and the ‘EBRO’ mark of Kastor. In 1925, Williams’ business and his own mark (a pen nib, enclosing his initials) were acquired by Durham-Duplex, but he remained a director of that company and Butcher until the end of the Second World War. Alfred Williams, Rundle Road, died on 11 December 1946.