Robert Fead Mosley

R. F. Mosley was a Sheffield based cutlery maker who were the first company to manufacture cutlery in what was to become known as ‘stainless steel’.

Robert Mosley was the son of an affluent jeweller in Hatton Garden in London who moved to Sheffield as a teenager in 1856. He worked in the house of George Oates who was a leading scissors manufacturer at the time. When Oates died, Mosley launched his own business as a maker of scissors and table cutlery. He married the daughter of Henry Hobson a cutlery retailer in Sheffield who was also very active in London.

By 1881 Mosley employed about 240 workers in his factory in Sheffield which made him one of the larger cutlers in the city.

He registered a silver mark in Sheffield in 1883 under his own name. He registered further marks in 1886, 1890, 1894 and 1907.

In 1890 Mosley and his second son, Robert Frederick Mosley went into partnership with The Alexander Clark Manufacturing Co in London. They were silverware retailers with premises in Fenchurch Street and Oxford Street.

He registered as a limited company in 1897 with himself and his son Henry Hobson Mosley as the main shareholders.

Robert Frederick was listed in 1901 as living and working just off Oxford Street close to one of Clarks’ outlets.

The company ceased trading in 1968.