| Title | Henri Antoine Leclere (1833-1897), Eugene Leclere (1862-1942), silver engravers; Leclere and Bray, engravers, Norfolk Street; E. Leclere, electro plate manufacturers, London Works, 56 Howard Street, Sheffield |
| Description | The Lecleres were master silver engravers. The founder of the business, Henri Antoine Leclere (1833-1897), came to Sheffield from Paris in 1861 (Bell, 2006). In the following year, he was listed as an engraver in Watery Street. He formed a partnership with Nicholas Bray - Leclere and Bray - which in the 1860s and early 1870s was based in Norfolk Street. By 1876, Henry (he appears to have adopted the English spelling) was listed alone again as a silver engraver in Norfolk Street, with a residence in Ecclesall Road. He engraved for most of the big silver firms, such as Atkin, Ashberry, Dixon, and Mappin. He also placed small advertisements in the local newspaper as an engraver of dog collars (Sheffield Independent, 24 June 1891). He married Mary Garside and moved to a house on Glossop Road. He died there on 15 March 1897, aged 64, and was buried in the General Cemetery. Afterwards his son, Eugene Leclere (1862-1942), built up the business by continuing to engrave for the better class firms and by specialising in fish carvers. Before the First World War, Eugene worked in Arundel Street, but by 1919 had a workshop above a retail shop in Howard Street. Eugene, of Bingham Park Road, died on 2 January 1942, leaving £4,024. Until Leclere’s closure in 1969, the enterprise produced cutlery, tableware, trophies, presentation caskets, and numerous other items, besides repairing and re-plating silverware. Leclere’s workshop was preserved at Sheffield’s Traditional Heritage Museum (now closed).
https://www.hawleysheffieldknives.com/n-fulldetails.php?val=lE&kel=987 |