Pillin: A Family of Sword Cutlers

To many with an interest in British military swords the name of Pillin will be very familiar. Yet, for a firm which traded for at least 65 years there is little information available about its activities beyond a few bare dates and addresses often quoted from the same sources. The original source of much of this information is unclear and some of this now appears questionable. In writing this article my intention is to provide a more comprehensive account of the Pillin dynasty. By examining what new evidence may be available I hope to evaluate and revise contemporary wisdom regarding Pillin’s operations. In conducting this research during a global Covid-19 pandemic, amid national and local lockdowns, I am restricted in source material but have relied heavily on sources available online. Such methodology carries its own risks, there are gaps in the available datasets and frustratingly, transcription errors can both hamper searches and offer false positive matches. Nevertheless, with the rise in popularity of ancestry research, new data sources are constantly being made available. In today’s world of social media and online resources we have ready access to data of which researchers even 15 years ago could only have dreamed. Information regarding sword cutlers, such as their trading dates and addresses, is of particular interest as it can help to correctly date a sword. This in turn can assist with identifying an original owner. In the case of British blades, etched with the owner’s initials or a family crest, cross referencing with the Army lists will often provide multiple possible candidates over the lifetime of a sword pattern. Accurately identifying the year of manufacture can significantly assist in narrowing the field of potential matches against any one set of initials. A desire to identify the original owners of some of my own collected swords, and to assist others to do the same, provided the seed of motivation for my research into the Pillin dynasty. I hope this article provides a useful platform for additional research.