John Paisley Who?

The world of the collector can get quite heady, it doesn’t matter what you are collecting. For example, since creating my website several people have generously referred to me as an expert or an authority. While I take that as a great compliment it is not all together true. Certainly I have more experience or knowledge of Fairbairn Sykes fighting knives than the average knife-person but I am far from an expert.

 

It is amazing how much history can be twisted or lost in a few years time. When we are talking WW-II fighting knives we are talking 70 years. Sadly many of the “experts” have passed away. They were the men who were issued and carried the knives we collect. Some of them lived or died by the knife and hand to hand skills they learned from legendary people like WE Fairbairn, EA Sykes, Pat O’Neill, and Rex Applegate. These people often took with them their stories and left us to do our best to search out the truth.

 Sometimes Names and Places get confused in the minds of men nearing their 9^th decade. Is that to be wondered at? Sometimes details are sharp and crystal clear but the big picture is fuzzy. Businesses and even the buildings they knew may now be gone, replaced with others, or paved for parking or a new hi-way. What city has not changed since WW-II? The old Vet says: “The shop was in the third door down from the corner, you know the one near the fish market." We go our merry way searching for the fish market that no longer exists and decide that the old codger must have been a little confused. He knew that the smithy he talked about was no more than a shed on the back of another shop, operated by maybe a cutler or a jeweler, but we are looking for a full blown blacksmith shop. He says the knife he was issued was made from a bayonet and we say that is simply folklore because we know you cannot make a commando knife from a bayonet. He handled the knife, carried it into combat, and seventy years later we call ourselves the experts. You wonder, why am I writing all of this?

 

Here is a photo of a man at a large open forge. He is John Paisley of Glasgow, Scotland. Reportedly he hand crafted a few commando knives and other edged weapons for the SOE and other clandestine groups during WW-II. Some have researched the man and decided that there is only one possible man who could fit that description and he was not a knife maker, but a jeweler. The location of the jewelry shop does not fit the one description that exists of the location of Paisley’s forge. Therefore, it cannot be him in the photo, he does not exist, and the photo is a fake. Paisley knives must therefore also be fakes, end of story. Some experts have said that the clothing and the forge appear to be of the period but they note there is no signature or date on the photo. Do you have any family photos undated and unsigned? At least one expert, perhaps two or three, agree with me that the jeweler and the knife maker are likely one and the same. Many of the experts overlook the fact that jewelers often made or ornamented sgian dhu or scottish dirks, or that men's clothing shops, like J&I Marshall, sold commando knives. We get locked into one way of thinking.

 I have performed some research on the internet and found that at this time in history there were still small local forges all over Scotland. It is not inconceivable that Paisley did his knife making/forging at a location away from his city storefront. It could have been right in the back alley or in a more rural location. The experts counter, then why is there no listing for his forge in the gazetteers? First, I suggest that a man making weapons for people involved in clandestine operations probably did not hang out a shingle advertising such. That would be like a merchant putting a sign in his window: “Seal Team Six Shops Here!” The biggest difference is today some merchant might be gauche enough to do that, back then people were more discreet. Second, his forge may have not been a flourishing business that would rate a listing in a gazetteer.

 I would like to go to Scotland and research this enigma named John Paisley. So far several explorations via the web and email have not panned out. The passage of time is confounding the issue and making it much harder to find any factual evidence. We are left with the burden of proof that he existed while others are content to say he did not. Their "proof" is an absence of proof. I admit there is the possibility that John Paisley is a fictitious character. If the knives are indeed counterfeit I have a theory who the real J. Paisley might be. If that line of research were to prove out, and my optional hypothesis prove true, then the story would be just as tantalizing and the knives just as desirable. All it takes is time and money, and a whole lot of luck. Someone out there knows the truth, someone who is of an age, hopefully with a few years left, to tell us the true story. There are more photos and info on our website. http://www.fairbairnsykesfightingknives.com/index.html