Stan Shaw (December 2, 1926 - February 2021) was a cutler, or "

little mester A little mester is a self-employed worker who rents space in a factory or works from their own workshop. They were involved in making cutlery or other smallish items such as edge tools (i.e. woodworking chisels). The term is used almost exclusivel ...

", from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Early life

Shaw was born in

Worrall Worrall is a small rural village in the civil parish of Bradfield, South Yorkshire, England, north west of Sheffield city centre. It has an area of 233 hectares, and population of 1,306 as of 2006, and borders the Sheffield suburbs of Wad ...

, Sheffield to Walter Shaw and Amelia Shaw (nee Coldwell). He was one of eight children. His family later moved to

Oughtibridge Oughtibridge ( ) is a residential village in the north of Sheffield within the bounds of Bradfield civil parish. The village stands north-west of the city centre in the valley of the River Don. The population of the village has increased si ...

. His father was a ganister miner and died from

silicosis Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneumoconiosis. Silicos ...

at the age of 45. At the age of four, Shaw fell from a roof and landed on his hip. He subsequently also became ill with tuberculosis and spent ten years in hospital.

Career

Following discharge from hospital, Shaw began working for George Ibberson & Co, where he worked on

hafting Hafting is a process by which an artifact, often bone, stone, or metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appeara ...

and finishing items of cutlery. Shaw subsequently worked for George Wostenholm, John Watts, and John Clarke. In 1983, Shaw set up his own business in Garden Street. In 2009, he moved to a workshop within the

Kelham Island Museum The Kelham Island Museum is an industrial museum on Alma Street, alongside the River Don, in the centre of Sheffield, England. It was opened in 1982. The site The island on which it is located is man-made, resulting from the construction of a ...

. Towards the end of his career, he had a four-year waiting list for orders.

Retirement and death

Shaw stopped producing knives in 2019 due to ill health but continued to demonstrate his craftmanship to the public at the Kelham Island Museum. He died on 26 February 2021, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Stan 1920s births 2021 deaths People from Sheffield Cutlers