{{for|the train service|Master Cutler (train)}} {{about-distinguish-text|the Master of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire|the Master of the [[Worshipful Company of Cutlers]] in London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Use British English|date=February 2024}} The '''Master Cutler''' is the head of the [[Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire]] established in 1624. Their role is to act as an ambassador of industry in [[Sheffield]], [[England]]. The Master Cutler is elected by the freemen of the company on the first Monday of September of each year and the position taken in the first Tuesday of October. Despite the title, the Master Cutler does not have to be involved in the [[cutlery]] business, or even the [[steel]] industry, to be elected.
The first Master Cutler was Robert Sorsby (1577–1643). His son, Malin Sorsby, was Master Cutler in 1647, and in turn his son Robert Sorsby took the office in 1669. Another Robert Sorsby, a cousin of the first, held the post in 1628.<ref name=Mesters>{{cite book |last1=Binfield |first1=Clyde |last2=Hey |first2=David |date=1997 |title=Mesters to Masters: A History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire|location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=21 |isbn=0198289979 }}</ref>
The Installation of the new Master Cutler and Company follows the annual election of the new Company. In the early years of the company, the Election, Installation, Church Service and celebratory meal (which eventually became the Cutlers’ Feast) all happened on the same day. Now, only the Installation and Church Service, followed by lunch, take place on the same day.
==List of Masters Cutler== [[File:MasterCutlersPlaque.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Brass Plaque in Cutlers' Hall]]
Notable and recent Masters Cutler have included:<ref name=plaque>Plaque in Cutlers' Hall</ref><ref name=List>[http://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/downloads/date%20list%20of%20masters%202011.pdf The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415001752/http://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/downloads/date%20list%20of%20masters%202011.pdf |date=15 April 2012 }} Masters Cutler</ref>
*1624 Robert Sorsby *1662 James Staniforth *1731 [[Wilsons of Sharrow|Thomas Wilson]] *1790 Joseph Ward *1798 Samuel Broomhead Ward *1808 [[Ebenezer Rhodes]] *1816 Thomas Asline Ward *1855 [[Frederick Mappin]] *1863 [[Thomas Jessop]] *1865–66 [[John Brown (industrialist)|Sir John Brown]] *1867-9 [[Mark Firth]] *1870 [[William Bragge]] *1872 [[Thomas Vickers]] *1880 [[William Chesterman]]<ref>{{cite journal |work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph |date=3 September 1880 |title=Cutlers' Feast |page=5}}</ref> *1899 [[Robert Hadfield]] *1902 Albert J. Hobson<ref>{{cite newspaper The Times |title=Master Cutler′s Feast|date=1 October 1902 |page=4 |issue=36887}}</ref> *1908 [[Douglas Vickers]] *1911 [[Arthur Balfour, 1st Baron Riverdale|Arthur Balfour]] *1913 [[Thomas William Ward (industrialist)|Thomas William Ward]] *1914–18 [[William Henry Ellis (engineer)|William Henry Ellis]] *1919 [[Henry Kenyon Stephenson]] *1932 [[Arthur Lee (Army officer)|Arthur Lee]] *1935 [[Samuel Roberts, 2nd Baronet|Samuel Roberts]] *1937 Col. Frederick Austin Neill *1956 [[Sir Peter Roberts, 3rd Baronet]] *1958 [[Hugh Neill]] *1965 Eric Mensworth *1966 Antony B Hampton *1967 John Basil Peile *1973 Ken Lewis *1974 Charles Graham Murray *1990 [[Hugh Sykes]] *1998 [[Pamela Liversidge|Douglas and Pamela Liversidge]] (Master and Mistress Cutler) *1999 H. Stuart Johnson *2000 Vernon Smith *2001 Richard Prest *2002 John Bramah *2003 Neil Turner *2004 John Tissiman *2005 Timothy Reed *2006 Alan Reid *2007 Gordon W. Bridge<ref>[http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.starbusinessmonthly.co.uk%2Fedition7%2Fstb-03-10-07-007-e001.pdf&images=yes Master of industry], the Sheffield Star, 3 October 2007</ref> *2008 Martin G. Howell *2009 James Newman *2010 William Speirs *2011 [[Pamela Liversidge]]<ref name=Liversisge>{{cite web|url=http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/business/historic-date-for-first-female-master-cutler-1-3775700|title=Historic date for first female Master Cutler|work=Sheffield Telegraph|publisher=Johnston Press|access-date=9 August 2013}}</ref> *2012 Neil MacDonald *2013 Tony Pedder *2014 David Grey *2015 Craig McKay *2016 Richard Edwards *2017–18 Ken Cooke<ref name=Cooke>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=New Master Cutler: ‘We should not undervalue Sheffield’|url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/new-master-cutler-we-should-not-undervalue-sheffield-1-8786491 |work=Sheffield Star |location=Sheffield |date=4 October 2017 |access-date=17 January 2018 }}</ref> *2018–19 Nicholas Cragg<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/home/master-cutler|title=Master Cutler|website=www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk|access-date=26 December 2018}}</ref> *2019–2021 Nicholas D. O. Williams (Serving twice due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]])<ref>{{cite web|title=The Master Cutler, 2020–2021|url=https://cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/the-master-cutler-2020-2021/|access-date=19 October 2020|website=The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021113535/https://cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/the-master-cutler-2020-2021/|archive-date=21 October 2020}}</ref> *2021–2022 James Andrew Tear<ref>{{cite web|title=The Master Cutler, 2021–2022|url=https://cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/the-master-cutler-2020-2021/|accessdate=5 October 2021|website=The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire}}</ref> *2022–2023 Dame Julie Kenny<ref name="Kenny">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-63118470|title=Cutlers guild appoints second female master|date=4 October 2022|work=BBC News|accessdate=16 November 2022}}</ref> *2023–2024 Charles Turner<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/cutlers-company-new-boss-for-sheffield-manufacturing-organisation-as-it-prepares-to-turn-400-4360973|title=Cutlers' Company: New boss for Sheffield manufacturing organisation as it prepares to turn 400|date=5 October 2023|work=The Star|accessdate=9 February 2024}}</ref> *2024–2025 Philip Rodrigo<ref> {{cite web|title=New Master Cutler|url=https://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/new-master-cutler-elected-for-2024-2025-02-09-24/|date=13 September 2024|accessdate=23 November 2024}} </ref> *2025–2026 Keith Jackson<ref>{{Cite web |title=NEW MASTER CUTLER ELECTED FOR 2025-2026 – 01.09.25 – The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire |url=https://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/new-master-cutler-elected-for-2025-2026-01-09-25/ |access-date=2026-05-07}}</ref>
==The eponymous train== {{main|Master Cutler (train)}} In 1947 at a meeting of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire Ronald Matthews, a former holder of the office and Chairman of the [[London and North Eastern Railway]] suggested that the 7.40 train from [[Sheffield Victoria railway station|Sheffield Victoria]] to [[Marylebone station|London Marylebone]], returning at 18.15, should be named after the Master Cutler. This was agreed by both the Company of Cutlers and the LNER. The ''Master Cutler'' was introduced by the LNER on 6 October 1947, running on the [[Great Central Main Line]] route from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone calling at only {{stnlink|Nottingham Victoria}} and {{stnlink|Leicester Central}}.<ref>"Naming of LNER Master Cutler Express" ''[[Railway Gazette International|Railway Gazette]]'' 10 October 1947 page 23</ref><ref name=Hawkins>{{cite book| title=The Great Central then and now | first=Mac |last=Hawkins | publisher=David & Charles | location=Newton Abbot | year=1991 |page=10| isbn=0-7153-9326-X }}</ref> The then Master Cutler, A Balfour, later the 2nd [[Baron Riverdale|Lord Riverdale]], rode on the footplate of the inaugural train. It has since been a tradition that the Master Cutler ride with the driver of the train during their year of office.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/history/the-master-cutler-train|title=Company of Cutlers|website=www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk|access-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> Upon nationalisation in 1948, the service became the responsibility of the [[Eastern Region of British Railways|Eastern Region]] of [[British Railways]]. Known to staff simply as "The Cutler", the train carried a restaurant car and was generally hauled by a [[LNER Gresley Classes A1 and A3|Gresley A3 Pacific]].<ref name="Hawkins" />
==References== {{Reflist}} *[https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-local-studies/research/Mayors%20Cutlers%20Bishops%20etc%20v2-0.pdf Mayors, Lord Mayors, Masters Cutler, Freemen and Bishops of Sheffield]
==Further reading== *Clyde Binfield, David Hey (1997) ''Mesters to Masters: A History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshir''e (Oxford University Press) {{ISBN|0198289979}}
==External links== *[http://www.cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk/ Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire]
[[Category:Economy of Sheffield]] [[Category:Master Cutlers| ]]