‘Brown Bayleys Stainless’ was a trademark used by Brown, Bayley’s Steel Works Ltd.  This Sheffield steel maker had been founded in Attercliffe in 1871.  During the First World War, the firm became an important producer of alloy steels for the motor car and aircraft industry.  It was an early developer of stainless steel.  In 1915,  Harry Brearley (the inventor of stainless steel for cutlery) was appointed as Brown Bayley’s technical director (see Amalgams Co).   Brown Bayleys did not manufacture cutlery, so this knife would have been made by an unknown Sheffield maker.  The mark on the knife ensured that users would know that the blade was made from Brown Bayley’s stainless steel.  The Hawley Collection also has a Brown Bayley’s stainless table knife marked ‘The Stainless & Rustless Steel Co Ltd’.  This was a legal entity registered in 1915 by Brown Bayley’s to develop stainless steel for cutlery.

N.B. Other examples of stainless cutlery ‘manufactured’ by steel makers can be found in the Name on a Knife data base (see for example, English Steel Corporation; Hadfields Ltd; Edgar Allen).  It is possible that at least some of these knives were distributed to advertise the company’s stainless steels.