A little history of Addis

J

JamesT

Active member
This is an interesting little read.I cannot attest to the truthfulness and as such I have presented this for your inspection and critique.
    The Addis family of London, is without doubt one of the most highly regarded of any maker of carving tools.
    Baptism registries list a Samuel Addis, an Edge Tool Maker in Broadway, as having baptized his son Joseph James in 1792.

    Joseph James Addis is listed in directories as a tool maker at 4 Church Street, Deptford. He baptized his first son Samuel Joseph in 1811 and his third son (eighth child), James Bacon in 1829. Both sons, Samuel J. (the eldest) and James B., both went on to become great Edge Tool Makers of great notoriety.

    In 1846, Samuel Joseph Addis was listed as a carvers? tool maker, working at 6 Lower Fore Street, Lambeth.
    In 1854, his younger brother, James Bacon Addis was listed as a carvers? tool maker at 17 Charlotte Street, Blackfriars.
    Both brothers are listed as exhibiting carving tools at the 1851 "Great Exhibition" in London, which was the first "World Exhibition" of it's type.

From 1854, Samuel?s advertisements claim that he was the "sole inventor of the improved carvers' tools exhibited at the Great Exhibition, 1851". James Bacon's entry in the directories from 1854 says that "the prize medal of the Great Exhibition was awarded" for his carvers' tools. There seems to have been considerable competition between the two brothers.
In an advertisement in The Ironmonger for 30 November, 1859, Samuel J. points out that he is the son and successor of Joseph Addis and the 'sole inventor of the improved carvers' tools, exhibited at the Great Exhibition, 1851.' From 1863, Samuel Joseph's directory entries boast his winning an honorable mention at the 1862 Exhibition.

An entry in ?The Ironmonger? for December, 1863, giving notice of the bankruptcy of James Bacon Addis, edge tool manufacturer of Oakley Street and Waterloo Road in London. Unfortunately, by having a surname beginning 'A', his name heads the list of bankrupts.

Shortly thereafter, James B. Addis's removal to Sheffield is explained in the popular story by his being ?head-hunted? to make high quality wood carving tools for the firm of Ward and Payne; David Ward?s customers having apparently told him that his Sheffield workmen could not make the quality of tools seen in London.

In 1870, Samuel J. Addis, still working in London, passes away and the rights to the S.J. Addis trademark are bought by Ward & Payne of Sheffield who begin to mark their "Celebrated London Pattern Carving Tools" with the S.J. Addis name and the Ward and Payne crossed hammers and anvil trademark. These tools were probably being made by J.B. Addis.

Apparently this was upsetting to James B. Addis, and in 1871, he broke all ties with Ward & Payne, and began (once again) to produce tools under his own name. After this time, he stated in advertisements that he had no connection with Ward & Payne, and that no tools were genuine unless bearing the mark "J.B. Addis & Sons".





   
     










 







 
I am familiar with some of this story and would also love to know more about the history of these firms, how they operated, how many employees, etc. It would seem like there is still much work that can be done. Unfortunately, for the amount of tools they exported to America, I expect all the research would need to take place in England.

Interestingly, for all the discussion of S. J Addis winning prizes, it is J. B. who marked his tools as such.

This is a list of the marks on my carving tools, none of the dates are based on primary research and are subject to change as new information becomes available. I have seen one additional mark, ADDIS JUN., presumably S. J.?s mark while his father was still living/working.

S.J. ADDIS, 1811-1870
ADDIS SENR.    (probably Joseph James, father of S.J. and J.B., 1792- ?)        (before 1854)
S.J. ADDIS, 20 Gravel Lane / Southwark, London        (1854-1860)
S.J. ADDIS, London, compass and square / Worship Street, London    (1863-1871)
S. J. ADDIS, London
S.J. ADDIS, London, compass and square (no sweep #)
S.J. ADDIS, London, compass and square / 1 (sweep #)
S.J. ADDIS, Cast Steel, compass and square / 29 (sweep #)
S.J. ADDIS, Cast Steel, compass and square / England, 26 (sweep #)
S. J. ADDIS, Cast Steel, W&P, hammer and anvil / 4 (sweep #), England
S. J. ADDIS, W&P, hammer and anvil / England 6 (sweep #)

J. B. Addis, 1829-1890
J. B. ADDIS & SONS / 9 Prize Medals, 51 & 62 (no sweep number)        (1862-1870)
J. B. ADDIS & SONS, Sheffield / Prize Medals 51 & 62, 3 (sweep #)        (1862-1870)
J. B. ADDIS & SONS/Prize Medals 51.62.70 & 71 (no sweep number)      (After 1871)
J. B. ADDIS & SONS, Sheffield, England, 3 / 10 Prize Medals
J. B. ADDIS & SONS, Sheffield / 10 Prize Medals (narrow fishtail)
J. B. ADDIS & SONS, Sheffield, 24 (sweep #) / 10 Prize Medals, England
J. B. ADDIS JUN

Chris Storb
 
THANKS CHRIS FOR THE ADDITIONAL INFO.MAYBE IF WE STAY PATIENT WE WILL HAVE EVEN MORE INFO DOWN THE LINE BUT YOUR STUFF IS A KEEPER.
 
Here is a bit of information from Sheffield University that sent to me by Jo Hemmingway.

Returning to the question of trademarks and the value of the name ?Addis?, the registers at the Cutlers? Company are important in understanding the use of these marks. The registration of the Ward and Payne mark of crossed hammers above an anvil has already been explained.
There is no record of any trademark being registered by J.B. Addis. This is not surprising because he was initially paid to make wood carving tools as an outworker/subcontractor for Ward and Payne. These tools would have had Ward and Payne?s mark stamped on them, even though they were not made in the factory by the employees. As stated above, sometime around 1874, J.B. Addis broke away from Ward and Payne and made a plea for his customers only to buy tools marked ?J.B. Addis?. One might have thought that a man?s name on his products would have some protection against counterfeiting, but the advert makes it clear that this was not always so.
The Trademark registry

woodcarving tool stamped SJ Addis Cast Steel, with the Ward and Payne crossed hammers and anvil trademark
After the Cutlers? Company became a sub-registry of the Trademark Office in 1878, marks were (re)registered, with qualifying statements about the manufacturers? rights to use their marks. In 1882, Ward and Payne?s mark of the crossed hammers and anvil was re-registered with a claim that it had been used for at least 38 years prior to this date (i.e. 1844, or more accurately 1843, when the mark was first registered by Henry Payne). More significantly, in 1885, Ward and Payne registered the mark of a square and compasses by the side of the name S.J. Addis with the word LONDON beneath! They claimed that it had been in use twenty years prior to 1875.

This confusing comment suggests either that the mark had been initially registered in Sheffield in 1855 or it may imply the mark was in use elsewhere for twenty years prior to 1875. However, to substantiate this claim, wood carving tools in a private collection, show the mark of SJ Addis as being the square and compasses with the name of SJ Addis and London beneath, but having the London Finsbury address on the reverse.

The date of 1875 is probably when Ward and Payne purchased Samuel Addis? London business. To add to the confusion, the 1911 trade catalogue of Ward and Payne has the wood carving tools section beginning with a statement regarding London Pattern Carving Tools. They claimed that mark ?S.J.Addis? had been acquired in 1870 on the death in London of Samuel Addis, ?the inventor of these celebrated tools.? This conflicts with the written evidence in the mark registers. The use of the mark of S.J. Addis, and this overt competition may have prompted James Bacon Addis to break with Ward and Payne and to take out the full-page advert in 1876 stating that customers should be aware that he had nothing to do with Ward and Payne.

Further evidence for the S.J. Addis mark comes from the records of Edward Pryor, markmaker in Sheffield. Their records show that Ward and Payne was a regular customer, buying mark punches from them. Their page in Pryor?s customer mark book for the 1880s, shows the insertion of a ?new? mark among the variations of the usual crossed hammers and anvil. The mark clearly shows that Ward and Payne were stamping carving tools, made in Sheffield, with the name ?SJ ADDIS LONDON? (but without the London address, of course).
After the Cutlers? Company became a sub-registry of the Trademark Office in 1878, marks were (re)registered, with qualifying statements about the manufacturers? rights to use their marks. In 1882, Ward and Payne?s mark of the crossed hammers and anvil was re-registered with a claim that it had been used for at least 38 years prior to this date (i.e. 1844, or more accurately 1843, when the mark was first registered by Henry Payne). More significantly, in 1885, Ward and Payne registered the mark of a square and compasses by the side of the name S.J. Addis with the word LONDON beneath! They claimed that it had been in use twenty years prior to 1875.

This confusing comment suggests either that the mark had been initially registered in Sheffield in 1855 or it may imply the mark was in use elsewhere for twenty years prior to 1875. However, to substantiate this claim, wood carving tools in a private collection, show the mark of SJ Addis as being the square and compasses with the name of SJ Addis and London beneath, but having the London Finsbury address on the reverse.

The date of 1875 is probably when Ward and Payne purchased Samuel Addis? London business. To add to the confusion, the 1911 trade catalogue of Ward and Payne has the wood carving tools section beginning with a statement regarding London Pattern Carving Tools. They claimed that mark ?S.J.Addis? had been acquired in 1870 on the death in London of Samuel Addis, ?the inventor of these celebrated tools.? This conflicts with the written evidence in the mark registers. The use of the mark of S.J. Addis, and this overt competition may have prompted James Bacon Addis to break with Ward and Payne and to take out the full-page advert in 1876 stating that customers should be aware that he had nothing to do with Ward and Payne.

Further evidence for the S.J. Addis mark comes from the records of Edward Pryor, markmaker in Sheffield. Their records show that Ward and Payne was a regular customer, buying mark punches from them. Their page in Pryor?s customer mark book for the 1880s, shows the insertion of a ?new? mark among the variations of the usual crossed hammers and anvil. The mark clearly shows that Ward and Payne were stamping carving tools, made in Sheffield, with the name ?SJ ADDIS LONDON? (but without the London address, of course).

 
I'm not sure how I missed this set of postings and am not even sure this response will bubble to the top of the stack, but I started researching Addis in the late 1990s and got more fired up to publish after carving classes with Will Neptune in 2002, Mack Headley starting in 2003 and Al Breed in 2004.  The result was published in March 2006 in the OldTools board:

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=157681&submit_thread=1

Granted, there are a few errors and a few updates have been written since then.  I am now working on a more comprehensive article with photos of the imprints and will publish it somewhere on the web probably later this year.

If you have any specific history of the Addis and Herring guys not listed in the postings above or in my article (if you read it) please forward them to me via email.  Also, if you have an original or scan of the Ironmonger ads and articles, I would appreciate seeing them.

Regards,
Gary Laroff, SAPFM member 788
Portland, Oregon
 
Hi Gary,
I'm very interested in your continuing research into Addis and other carving tool makers and the possibility of it being published. I have some items and questions that may be of interest. I am not able to find your email listed. You can contact me at [email protected].
Thanks,
Chris
 
James T,

I am trying to contact you regarding the Addis references from The Ironmonger and have not been able to find your email address.  I would like to receive web addresses, a download, jpegs, photocopies or any other version of The Ironmonger quotations you have in your posting.  Please send them to me or contact me at GLaroff at Teleport dot com.

Thank you in advance,
Gary
 
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