Antique W. Marples & Sons Brace Batwing Bit Sheffield England

The earliest recorded (so far) mention of ‘Marples’ is around the 1540s, in Baslow, Derbyshire. There the family stayed until about 1750, when they moved to Sheffield. The years 1772 & 1774 saw the birth of two sons, William & Robert, both of whom were listed as Joiners tool makers. William’s son, William (b. 1809) was most likely the founder of the firm William Marples & Sons (also joined by George Marples), later becoming Record Marples. The other son Robert (b. 1801), produced the first of the long line of Joseph Marples (b. 1801). This Joseph being the founder of our company in 1840. During this period there were no less than seven Marples’ companies operating out of Sheffield, all somehow being related, very confusing. The earliest of our factories was called York Works, and produced principally framed braces, one design was called the ‘Trial 1 Brace’ referring to the firms corporate mark. Since then a succession of Joseph’s have owned the company: Joseph (b. 1834), Jos.Cooper (b. 1864), Jos. Edward (b. 1894), Jos. Ronald (b. 1924) and currently (me) Jos. Anthony (b. 1956), whether my son Jos. Samuel (b.1996) takes on the company remains to be seen!