This firm’s mark – diamond/cross/EW – was registered to Edward Windle in 1720; and passed to his son, Edmund, in 1760.  According to Leader (1905-06)¹, Edward Windle (Master Cutler, 1747) was a cutler in Lambert Croft, who was brother-in-law to George Marriott (Master Cutler, 1743) and was also connected by marriage to the Blonks and Silcocks (see Boulsover).  In 1767, Windle’s bought steel from crucible furnaces operated by the Company of Cutlers.   

The Lambert Street Windles appeared in directories from 1774, using the diamond/cross/EW mark.  Edmund Windle was listed in 1774 and 1787.  (An Edward Windle was also listed in 1774, as a table knife cutler in Fargate, using the mark ‘WINDELE’.)  Edmund Windle, cutler, died on 30 March 1789, according to The Sheffield Register, 4 April 1789 (though the transcription of the parish register identifies the individual as Edward).

By the 1800s, Joseph Windle (c.1775-1863) and Samuel Windle (c.1781-1859) had become the last representatives of the family.  They continued to make table knives in Lambert Street until the 1840s, when they apparently retired.  Their partnership was dissolved in 1838.  According to The Sheffield Independent (26 June 1875), they were bachelors, who were ‘frequently to be seen about the top of Broad Lane’.  They resided in Brookhill in the last house (or last but one) to Gell Street.   Samuel Windle, gentleman, Brook Place, died on 26 November 1859, aged 78.   Joseph, gentleman, East View, Parker’s Road, died on 2 April 1863, aged 88, leaving under £1,500.  They were buried in the General Cemetery – Joseph in an unconsecrated grave.

^1. Leader, R E, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire in the County of York (Sheffield, 1905-6)