Ken Hawley

Ken Hawley (born Kenneth Wybert Hawley, 29 June 1927 – 15 August 2014) was a British tool specialist and industrial historian: he was a tool retailer, collector of tools and authority on the history of Sheffield manufacturing trades. He amassed what is recognised as one of the most significant collections of its type in the world. The Hawley Collection is now housed at Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield, England.

Life and career Kenneth Wybert Hawley was born on the Manor estate in Sheffield on 29 June 1927 to Walter and Isabella Hawley. His father was a wire-worker who set up his own business, Wire Products, making wire guards for machinery in Sheffield's manufacturing industries. The family moved to the Wadsley area of the city in 1932, and to a newly built semi-detached house in the same area in 1939 where Hawley lived for the remainder of his life.

Hawley attended Marlcliffe County Infant and Junior School, Wisewood Secondary School and in 1940 gained entrance to Sheffield Junior Technical School. He left school a year later at the age of fourteen to assist in his father's business, which needed people to replace those workers who had been called up to the armed forces during World War 2.

In 1959, Hawley established his own specialist tool shop in Sheffield, advertising it with the slogan "We sell nowt but tools" to distinguish it from ironmongers and general hardware stores.

Hawley ceased his involvement in his tool shop in 1989. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Sheffield Hallam University in 1995 and was appointed a MBE in 1998. He was also a founder member and President of the Tools and Trades History Society.

Ken Hawley died on 15 August 2014; he was survived by his wife and sons. He also considered trade catalogues and other ancillary items an important record and illustration of the range of products, many of which have no surviving examples, and these were added to his acquisitions .

As time passed, Hawley became known for uttering the phrase, "You'll not be wanting this, will you?" Hawley spread his knowledge among a team of volunteers who both assisted in cataloguing the collection and in some cases became experts in their own right.

Publications Among Hawley's publications are:

A Cut above the Rest – the Heritage of Sheffield's Blade Manufactures (2003), with Joan Unwin Sheffield Images – Cutlery, Silver and Edge Tools, with Joan Unwin Wooden Spokeshaves (2007), with Denis Watts Knifemaking in Sheffield and the Hawley Collection, with Ruth Grayson