Cutting edge: How Sheffield's Company of Master Cutlers is celebrating its 400th anniversary

But we’re not talking about an institution that is “off limits,” or a closely guarded secret. Far from it.

This is the Cutler’s Hall, built by the Company of Cutlers, which this year marks its 400th anniversary. It’s a place celebrating what has been achieved in the manufacturing industries over four centuries and, says Master Cutler Charles Turner, of the internationally known firm of Durham Duplex: “We’re also looking forward, very much so, to the next four hundred.” His is a historic office – Charles is very proud of the fact that his own father held it before him a few years ago. The first Master Cutler was Robert Sorsbie, supported by two wardens, Geoffrey Birley and John Rawson.

Supporting Charles today are Philip Rodrigo and Professor Keith Jackson. And, in the Master’s office is a old oak coffer, in which valuables were placed. “There were three keys to it, one each held by the Master and his wardens, and the trio had to be present if they wanted to open it. A great example of collective responsibility,” says Charles.

The first Cutler’s Hall appeared as a Sheffield landmark in 1636, and the Company bought the land for a few shillings short of £70. The site itself is now worth several millions. Two other halls followed. The first was demolished in 1725, and a second went up in its place. It lasted just over a century and, by some accounts, became rather dilapidated. Two rival architects submitted plans, Benjamin Broomhead Taylor, and Samuel Worth. The Company could not agree on which offered the superior ideas, so, in the spirit of compromise, it asked the men to work together. What we see today is largely the combination of their original efforts.

But, since the late Georgian and Victorian era turned Sheffield into a boom city for industry, and, with the growing confidence and influence of the Cutlers, there were two main extensions, in 1867, and in 1888. This made it into one of the finest livery halls in Britain, and certainly the finest outside central London. It is a full-blooded, out-loud symphony to Victorian and Edwardian opulence, with wall after wall of portraits, grand staircases, banqueting halls and ornate furniture. It also houses – amazingly – two glittering chandeliers and wooden panelling from The Olympic ocean liner, one of the sister ships to the ill-fated Titanic. “They were bought at auction when Olympic was being broken up. The Cutlers of the day put in the winning bid, and we had them installed,” says Charles. “We’re very proud of them, and how they look. Just part of our heritage”.

Quite apart from that, there is, of course, the best collection of silverware, in all its many shapes and forms, anywhere in the UK, and probably in the world. There is at least one piece of Sheffield silver hallmarked by the city’s Assay office since 1773, the year in which it was founded. The piece from that year is a beautiful silver goblet, with a gilt interior - “because silver gives any wine or liquid a most peculiar taste”, explains Charles, “and gold doesn’t. The shame is that the maker’s mark can’t now distinguished, but his skills are very evident. It’s a favourite of mine, no doubt about that.” And the newest acquisition? It’s already established as a contemporary masterpiece, a circular silver and gold tabletop casket and condiment box, made earlier this year by Holly Clifford, of The Persistence Works in Sheffield. It has the intricate topography of the city on the lid – all the hills and the rivers as they descend into the local rivers. “It’s a modern masterpiece,” says Charles quietly. An earlier masterpiece hangs around the neck of every Master Cutler on the Company’s special occasions, and it is the insignia badge. Think of the badges worn by all the mayors and Lord Mayors of Yorkshire, and this glittering, beautifully intricate piece of jewellery makes them look trivial by comparison. It was presented to the Company in 1909, and it has been in use ever since.

On the other side of the scale is a humble stainless-steel knife, on display in one of the many cases. It looks pretty ordinary, nothing that special, but in fact, it is of extraordinary significance, for it was developed in 1914, just as the First World War started. And Sheffield stainless steel was going to have extraordinary significance in a world turned upside down – it played an incalculable part in surgery, for example. “Can you even begin to calculate the many millions of lives it saved?”

The first reference to any cutlery made in Sheffield was in 1297, when Edward I demanded a new set of tax records – “The Hearth Tax”, which was to record what all his subjects owned. Up pops Robertus le Coteler, Robert the Cutler. By the end of the 14th century, Sheffield was renowned for the production of fine knives. Edward III, living in The Tower, London’s royal residence, owned a Sheffield knife. The date was 1340. But why was an assay mark brought in? It seems that it was a very practical, and pragmatic, decision. Sheffield was producing prodigious amounts of silverware in the middle Georgian period, but it all had to be shipped across the Pennines, to the nearest assay office – which was in Cheshire. And then it returned to Sheffield, to be sold by its makers. There was a “but”, for only much of it never returned, for it was stolen by highwaymen and thieves on the Lancashire – Yorkshire borders. That vital assay mark provided absolute proof that it was of the highest quality, and irrefutably genuine, and with it, on whatever object it was placed, the thieves had the best evidence that what they were going to sell onwards was the real McCoy. The makers in Sheffield argued for an assay mark of their own – and they got it, thwarting the upland robbers in a stroke.

Charles Turner points out that the wealth of Sheffield’s masters and makers was passed on to the city in so many and varied ways – libraries, universities, parks, hospitals, public institutions of all kinds. And, while the Cutler’s Hall isn’t somewhere where you can just amble in off the street, there are plenty of by-arrangement guided tours, it is open during Sheffield’s involvement with the Heritage weekends, and just about anyone can book its rooms for any range of events. Charles points out that the Hall – unlike London livery companies, does not own vast tracts of land. It depends on its hires and its multiplicity of uses. He and his fellow Cutlers are determined that Sheffield continues to be at the forefront of technological advances, and he can offer dozens of examples of city firms and companies who are right out there, leaders in their field, and encouraging the next generations to embrace the future. Just one of the schemes is the successful Cutler’s Ambassadors.

There are more than a thousand manufactures in Sheffield, Hallamshire and South Yorkshire. “If you are cut by a scalpel when you have an operation,” says Charles – who is looking forward to the annual Master’s Feast on May 23 – “it is almost certain to have been made in Sheffield. If you go on holiday, the steel landing equipment in the plane will come from here as well. Same with the oxygen equipment on board, and also in submarines……so many ways in which Sheffield is still a major force to be reckoned with.”