W Smith and sons

[robdawtry]

Does any one know anything about W Smith and Sons. They were a hand tool and cutlery manufacturer located in the Spring Works, Napier Street. they were sold in 1940 to, I think, James Neil.

[hillsbro]

Directories from 1905 to 1931 show "William Smith & Sons, steel & file manufacturers" at 72 Napier Street, with R. Bunting, steel manufacturer, at the same address. By the 1920s James Neill is also mentioned there, but by 1936 Neill and Bunting are no longer mentioned. R. Bunting and James Neill were also nearby in Harrow Street, where Smith's evidently still had a warehouse when the 1942 Kelly's Directory was pubished (here is an advertisement from the 1942 directory). Later directories show James Neill on Napier Street.

[robdawtry]

thank you for your reply. William Smith was my great grandfather, his son Charles Smith, my grandfather died 1940, partly as a result of injury sustained in WW1. All his other relatives from that era are now dead. i kept the little advertising and paperwork that survived my grandmothers passing and have been trying to find out a little more about the business, thank you again.