| AdminHistory | The company traces its origins back to 1745 when George Wolstenholme (1775-1833) set up his cutlery business. By the 1820s the firm was known as George Wostenholm and Son and was based at 78 Rockingham Street. It is said that the surname was shortened to facilitate its inclusion on knives.
The company trade mark was I*XL.
In the 1830s George Wostenholm (1800 - 1876) conquered the American market. An office was established in New York to market the I*XL product and sales stretched across the country to the far west coast. The firms trade became almost exclusively American. In 1848 the firm purchased a factory on Wellington Street in Sheffield, from Oakes, Tompkin and Company and renamed it Washington Works. By the mid 1850s between 600-700 workers were employed there.
In 1875 the firm became a limited company.
By the 1880s and 1890s the American market conditions had changed. American were producing more and their own knives and a tariff on imports to the US made Wostenholm's good uncompetitive. The company had mixed fortunes through the 20th century. In 1971 the company was purchased by Joseph Rodgers (becoming Rodgers-Wolstenholm). The Washington Works were demolished and the company relocated to Guernsey Road.
After another change of hands in 1975 (Richards) the firm was taken over by Imperial Knife, in 1977. However by 1983 the Richards-Rodgers-Wostenholm group was bankrupt. The famous I*XL mark passed to Egginton Bros. of Sheffield. |