London, then Sheffield · 1790s–about 1970
The Addis family made carving tools in Deptford, south-east London, from at least 1792. Samuel Joseph Addis worked in Southwark and Finsbury, and his younger brother James Bacon Addis won a prize medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851. J. B. Addis went to Sheffield in the 1860s, worked for Ward & Payne, then ran J. B. Addis & Sons, which lasted into the 1950s. After S. J. Addis died in the early 1870s, Ward & Payne bought his name and made S. J. Addis carving tools in Sheffield for about a hundred years, still selling them in a 1961 catalog. Wilkinson Sword bought Ward & Payne in 1967, and its Limbrick Works burned around 1970.
1 model we cover.
S. J. ADDIS with LONDON and a compass and square (Ward & Payne used this mark on Sheffield-made tools); Ward & Payne's crossed hammers over an anvil beside S. J. ADDIS; J. B. ADDIS & SONS SHEFFIELD with PRIZE MEDALS; a sweep number and ENGLAND on later tools; early London street addresses such as 20 GRAVEL LANE or WORSHIP ST.