Cowlishaw had built up an enviable reputation for his silver fruit-knives. He was born in Sheffield on 7 May 1829, the son of John Henry Cowlishaw (1781-1832) and Mary Ann Mappin. His father was a clothier and later a traveller; his mother was the daughter of the cutler Joseph Mappin. After his father’s death, John Cowlishaw was raised by his uncle John Newton Mappin (1800-1883). The latter became a wealthy Sheffield brewer and art collector, but he had first been a designer of pearl handles for his father’s silver fruit-knives. Cowlishaw joined J. N. Mappin as a pearl cutter and dealer in Pepper Alley. By 1851, when he was living with Elizabeth Mappin (his spinster aunt), John was a manufacturer of silver fruit-knives. In about 1854, when he was 24, Cowlishaw launched a business in Norfolk Street as a silver fruit-knife maker and mother-of-pearl cutter. He was also agent for his uncle’s brewery in Rotherham. When Mappin retired, Cowlishaw bought his silver and pearl business and combined it with his own. He moved first to Market Street – his address when his silver mark (JYC) was registered in 1854 - then in 1861 to Baker’s Hill. In 1871, he occupied 67 Arundel Street as ‘successor’ to Heeley & Son, electro-platers and gilders (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 8 April 1871). However, he continued to run his Sheffield Pearl Works in Baker’s Hill. In silver fruit-knife manufacture, he employed 26 workers; in electro-plate and gilding, he had a staff of 35. In 1881, Cowlishaw sold his Baker’s Hill workshops, so that Arundel Street became his sole address as a pearl cutter and maker of silver fruit-knives. In 1881, the business employed 50 workers and John had brought his sons, John Edward and Frederick, into the firm.
Cowlishaw rarely advertised. His products were their own advertisement. An obituarist remarked: ‘The concern has always been a prosperous one and Mr Cowlishaw has always enjoyed a high reputation for the quality of his manufactures’. Modern collectors rate Cowlishaw’s silver fruit-knives as ‘some of the finest mid-nineteenth century knives’ (Moore, 20081). One ornate example in mother-of-pearl (1855) was possibly owned by Abraham Lincoln - Blade Magazine has an interesting article with a good image of the knife. Cowlishaw became ‘rich beyond anything that he could possibly need’. His estate was proved at £63,879 (about £8½m at current prices) , though it was said that in the depths of his depression he feared ending in the workhouse. He served on the boards of several leading companies, such as Mappin’s Brewery, Newton, Chambers & Co, and Sheffield & Hallamshire Bank. He had investments in several leading Sheffield firms, such as Joseph Rodgers & Sons.
Yet he shunned public affairs and politics, preferring to spend his time shooting. He was ‘a capital shot, [who] enjoyed nothing better than a day’s shooting, and his bag was generally a good one’. He shared J. N. Mappin’s passion for art. When the latter bequeathed his art collection to the town, Cowlishaw became an influential member of the Mappin Art Gallery’s committee. He not only loaned and gave pictures to the Museum (includ-ing one of J. N. Mappin himself), but also financed much of the elegant finish to the Museum and Weston Park. He had 800 painting at his home, ‘more in fact than he knew what to do with’.
After Cowlishaw’s death (and burial in the General Cemetery), Tapton Cliffe was sold for £4,500 to J. J. Saville. The Arundel Street business was taken over by his son, John Edward Cowlishaw (1859-1911). A mark for Cowlishaw & Co (‘C&Co’), Arundel Street, was registered in 1897. By 1901, John Edward had retired to Scarborough. Cowlishaw’s subsequent address was 25 Paradise Street and its catalogues – boasting 600 patterns of silver and gold fruit knives and smoker’s knives - stated that the business now incorporated Edmund Bell. The latter was the vehicle of J. G. Crowther, who had apparently bought the Cowlishaw name. By 1918, Cowlishaw’s name had been acquired by Arthur Theodore Smith (1874-1962). When the trade in silver fruit-knives was hit by stainless steel, Smith adapted by selling folding scissors and a folding knife / fork / spoon combination. Cowlishaw’s (later a limited company) was based at various addresses in the twentieth century: Napier Street, Harrow Street, and Matilda Street. Arthur T. Smith, of Osberton Place, Cowlishaw Road, died on 22 December 1962, leaving £1,879. Emil Berek later owned the name. The firm was still listed as a cutler at Portland Works, Hill Street, in the early 1970s.