The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens | Page 6

very well with them. Sheldon himself told me that Mr. Gillott
commenced making the pen from seeing some of his (Sheldon's)
make."
Some one writing under the nom de plume of "Un Qui Sait," says:
"I distinctly recollect, about the year 1806, being at Fellows's home in
Sedgley, and there seeing Thomas Sheldon, his apprentice, making
steel pens. He knew of an entry in his books of pens bought from
Fellows in 1807. He paid Sheldon L.100 in 1822. He believed Fellows
made pens in 1793. Beilby and Knott (Birmingham stationers) sold
these pens in considerable quantities from 1818 to 1828. Sheldon
continued the trade until it was destroyed through inability to compete
with the machine-made pens of Mitchell and Gillott."
Another writer, "T. S.," says:
"In 1815, an uncle of mine used to purchase these pens from Sheldon,
of Sedgley. The price was eighteen shillings per dozen, ten per cent. for
cash. They were barrel shape. B. Smith and Co. had in their pattern
book of engravings of steel toys a drawing of one of these pens, which
were sold at thirty shillings per dozen; also one in a bone handle, the
top of which screwed off, for carrying in the pocket, at thirty-six
shillings per dozen."

Another correspondent, writing on July 24, 1869, mentions (on
authority of the late Mr. Alderman Yates) that an old man named
Spittle made steel pens before any of the present makers.
In note 319 this man Spittle is mentioned by another writer, who says:
"A man named Spittle, one of the earliest makers of steel pens, lived in
Chequers' Walk, Bath Row, Birmingham. He made steel pens for sale,
and charged one shilling each for them. They were made with a tube to
fit on a quill. I bought one from him forty-five years ago (1824)."
"E.W.," writing in 1869, says:
"In 1821 there was a B. Smith, steel toy maker, St. Paul's [Mary's]
Square, Birmingham. He had a book of engravings of steel toys, among
which were steel pens, made to screw on and off. This pattern book
might have been one hundred years old. I sold his pens in 1823."
The Editor of "Notes and Queries" says "Smith's pattern book was
probably fifty years old," and further remarks that steel pens must have
been a regular article of manufacture before they appeared in a steel toy
maker's pattern book.
"C.J.," in note 372, says:
"The pattern book of John Barnes, Eagle Works, Wolverhampton,
contains engravings of early steel pens."
Mr. Robert Griffin says:
"In 1824 I wrote very much with a steel pen made under the direction
of James Perry--a pen that lasted about eight or nine weeks, writing
eight hours a day."
In note 344, "Anon" says he remembered his father (who had premises
in Water Street, Birmingham), in the summer of 1823, bringing a tall,
quiet, respectable man to the manufactory. He had a piece of iron, or
steel, which he required to be cut up into strips of about two inches

wide. The man said he was going to get the strips rolled to make into
steel pens. He gave the writer of the note sixpence and a barrel pen for
his trouble. In answer to inquiries the writer put to his father, the latter
stated he did not know the man's name nor where he lived, but "that he
met with him in a smoke room, where he (the father) sometimes spent
his evenings." The writer further remarks: "Where the man had got his
ideas from which induced him to try his hand at making steel pens I do
not know, but I have an impression that there were several
experimenters in existence at that time; and very soon afterward Mr.
William (Joseph) Gillott, with whom my father was on terms of
intimacy, came into notice as a maker of steel pens." This is a very
important statement, as it fixes a date respecting pens being made from
sheet steel.
One of the oldest toolmakers in the trade has informed us that, about
the year 1823 or 1824, he was frequently taken by his father to visit an
uncle named Clulee, who rented power at the Water Street mill. On
these occasions his father and uncle would talk about the visits of
Gillott to the latter, and the hopeful manner in which he spoke of the
experiments he was then making. Gillott rented power at the Water
Street mill, and was engaged in grinding and finishing penknife blades,
which were inserted in one end of a silver pencil case, which his
relative--Mitchell--was then making.
Now, who was this "tall, quiet, respectable man?" It could not have
been Gillott, as he was not tall and the father of "Anon" knew him; and
Mitchell was also a short man. We