Ernest Wright & Son

Ernest Wright was the son of a scissor outworker, who bored, hardened and tempered scissor blades for cutlery manufacturers. In 1902 Ernest Wright started his own company when he realised that he could make more money selling finished pairs of scissors, rather than being an outworker. Ernest hired his own outworkers to complete the orders and was reputedly able to carry 2,000 scissor blades over his shoulder at a time when making deliveries, more than anyone else in the city. Ernest Wright’s son, also called Ernest, joined the company in 1928, and by 1938 they had relocated to the Talbot Works on Reed Street.

In 1954, the company registered the trade name KUTRITE, and in 1962 they moved into a purpose built factory in Smithfield, the Kutrite Works. The company was called Kutrite from 1977 onwards, and was one of the largest scissor manufacturers in the country. The recession of the 1980s meant the workforce shrank, and the company was liquidated in 1989. The company started again under the Wright family leadership and rebranded as Ernest Wright & Sons in 2010. They moved from Kelham Island to the Endeavour Works on Broad Lane in July 2011.