Some Early Newbridge Cutlery Smithed by my Grandfather

"In 1935, Newbridge Cutlery was established in Co. Kildare. Some local people took shares in the venture and experts were brought in from Sheffield, England to train the local workforce. Mr J W Haigh was appointed managing director and he came over from Sheffield with six men skilled in the craft of cutlery making. One of these men was my grandfather, William Gamble. He would later stay on and settle in Newbridge for the age-old reason: love! He met my grandmother, Jo O'Brien who was working in the cutlery factory. After training the new workforce, the other men returned to Sheffield. I know the names of some of them: Ernest Harrison and brothers Percy and Sam Wainwright. Another member of the group was Fred Bell. We still know his address today because he had a pet parrot called Billy and Billy used to say "my name is Billy Bell and I live in 60 Guernsey Road, Healey, Sheffield." William Gamble originally worked for Harold Moore in Sheffield. My mother remembers visiting the factory there as a child in the 40s and 50s when my grandfather would return to Sheffield to visit family and collect new samples to try in Newbridge Cutlery. As an interesting aside, Harold Moore's father was famed locally as the first causality of World War II. He was a night watchman who died on duty the first night of the war from a heart attack! These forks, condiment set and bell are just a small sample of EPNS and silverware that my grandfather made. A number of other items in our family possession are samples he collected from Smiths, Cutlers and Stainless Steel factories between the 1930s and 1960s. "