- Joined
- Jul 28, 2013
- Messages
- 83
Please pardon me for commenting on a post that is four years old, but I found your wonderful Gregg knife on bladeforums only now, a week after buying two straight razors made by "GREGG, 27 Sloane Sq". I found them at a flea market in London, bone-handled and in fine condition, at least good enough to get a comfortable and close shave. My son and I have done a little research on James Gregg of Sloane Square and came up with this:
According to information available on the internet, James Gregg was a cutler working out of a shop at 50 Tothill Street, Westminster, London (located a block east of the St. James's Park underground station and two blocks west of Westminster Abbey). Whether he owned the shop or was employed there, I don't know. In or around the years 1852-1862 he moved the shop to, or perhaps went into business on his own at 27 Sloane Square, London (on the southwest corner of Sloane Square, just where King's Road enters into Sloane Square). I visited the site a week ago and of course found no trace of any cutlery business, only high-end clothing stores. Even the street number is no longer there. There is a womens' boutique with the address 27a Sloane Square, and to the left of that is a shop with the number 28. The shop on the right already has a King's Road address. Discussions I have seen on the internet indicate that James Gregg made and sold high quality wares. He died on August 28, 1884, and his daughter Caroline Emily Schultz inherited his estate (according to the the London Gazette of October 14, 1884). It is mentioned there that she was the wife of a certain Friedrich Heinrich Carl Schultz. Sometime after this date the name stamped on tools from this shop changed from "James Gregg" or "J Gregg" to simply "Gregg,", and according to one source on the internet it changed to "Gregg & Co" or "J Gregg & Co" in 1910. The voters lists for London in 1899 list a Friedrich Heinrich Carl Schultz, and in the same lists for the years 1907, 1912 and 1913 a Heinrich Gregg Schultz can be found. These lists include no further information, just the name.
The rest of what I write here is purely hypothetical. My assumption is that Friedrich Heinrich Carl Schultz was James Gregg's employee, who then became his son-in-law. Judging by the extreme Germanic quality of that name, it is possible that he was a cutler from Germany who had moved to London. My further assumption is that Schultz and his wife Caroline, the daughter of James Gregg, had a son whom they named Heinrich Gregg Schultz, maybe to keep the name Gregg in the family, which was still being stamped on their tools. All traces of the family and the business appear to have been lost as of 1915, at least I haven't found anything more pertaining to it. The disappearance as of 1915 is not surprising due to the First World War having commenced, which resulted in massive anti-German sentiment in the UK. Numerous German-owned businesses were confiscated by the government at that time, one of the most notable being the present-day Wigmore Hall, a venue for classical concerts in London, which prior to World War I was owned by the Berlin piano manufacturer Bechstein. James Gregg of Sloane Square, being run by someone whose name revealed his German heritage, could not possibly have survived under those circumstances.
I do have a question for VCM3: Can you tell me why you assume your knife is pre-1890? One internet source I ran across in England noted that the "& Co" was added after 1910. Maybe there is something about your fine Gregg knife that reveals its age, something that you can recognize and I am ignorant of.
. A wonderful giant ! I'll point this out to him & maybe I can get an answer. Thanks for the added info & Thanks to all for keeping this thread going.:thumbup:
Any Sam, AFAIK there is no manual to what level you should clean a knife, at the end it comes to a personal preference. I know many would like shiny blades, but to me it looks odd to see obviously used knife with shining blades, something is wrong with the look and something is missing in the knife personality.
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