William Hunt and Sons
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William Hunt and Sons or WHS is a British brand of masonry tools [1] and other types of edge tools.
Originally, in the 18th century, William Hunt was an edge tool maker at Rowley Regis, a parish of Dudley in Worcestershire in England. In 1782 Hunt purchased the Brades Estate at Oldbury near Birmingham and established a new works there known as Brades Forge, or just The Brades. By 1805 they were also making steel on the site, known at that time as the Brades Steel Works. In the late 19th century George Heaton became a a major shareholder of the company, now known as William Hunts and Sons, The Brades Works. In 1828 they acquired William Edwards and Sons (incorporating the Eagle Edge Tool Company) and later the business of Bache Bros[2], spade makers of Churchill Forge, near Stourbridge. The company amalgamated with Nash Tyzack to form Brades Nash Tyzack Industries in 1951, and later took over the business of Skelton. In 1962 together with Harrison they became part of Spear and Jackson who in 1967 also acquired Edward Elwell Ltd, all the companies coming together as parts of S&J by 1972. In 1985 S&J became part of the Neill Tools Group from Sheffield, who still owns the brand today. Their major UK trade marks were BRADES and WHS, but they had many others, some of which such as Eagle, Giraffe and Pagoda were used on tools made for export.