Samuel Broomhead (Broomhead & Ward)

Samuel Broomhead gained his Freedom and makers mark in 1742. His products were stamped with a pistol and the letter ‘L’. Samuel later took on an apprentice called Joseph Ward, who gained his Freedom in 1769 and had a similar makers mark to Broomhead, of a pistol with a diamond. They became business partners and by 1774 they were working as table knife cutlers in Pond Lane. Pond Lane (now Pond Street) was in an area of the city that was to undergo extensive development from the 1780s to the 1820s. This was when the area called Alsop Fields, to the south west of Pond Lane, was laid out with a grid pattern of roads. The land belonged to the Dukes of Norfolk so the new roads were named after people associated with them: Howard, Eyre, Surrey and Arundel. Broomhead and Ward had taken advantage of this development, and moved to a new home and warehouse in the early 1800s. It was on the corner of Howard Street and Eyre Street.

If you have any pictures or photographs of early Pond Street, please do contact us.