Trade card for Joseph Gray & Son reflecting the range of items they made and some of the awards that they had won. ©Picture Sheffield
Adverts from the late nineteenth century show that Joseph Gray & Son was founded in 1849 and produced ‘every Description of Surgical, Dental and Veterinary instruments’, including electro-magnetic machines, enema apparatus and trusses. The Industries of Sheffield Business Review of 1890 mentioned the company, saying ‘a proof of their general superiority lies in the fact of their having gained special distinction at various exhibitions, notably at London 1862, and Paris 1878.’ These prizes were won for their surgical and obstetric equipment. They won another medal in Paris in 1889.
The firm actually started as Gray and Lawson in 1849, a partnership between Joseph Gray and Henry Lawson, however, by 1860 Lawson had left and the company was renamed Joseph Grey & Co. By the mid-1860s the company had moved to the site it would occupy until it was bought by Downs Surgical in 1965, Truss Works on New George Street (now Boston Street). The works was described as being three stories high and having a frontage of nearly one hundred feet, as well as being fitted with the latest machinery and steam power technology.
Location
