At 10:10 PM 10/29/96 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>
>I was at a local shopping mall that was having an antique show the other day
>and spotted an infill shoulder rabbet plane. The plane had some pitting on the
>sides, a crudely made replacement wedge, a good-sized nick in the blade, and a
>coating of lacquer(?) applied over all of the exterior surfaces, but, hey,
>what do you expect for a plane found in front of J.C. Penny's? The rosewood(?)
>infill was in very nice shape but I could not make out the marking on the
>blade. I got the plane for $25 + tax, got it home and removed the lacquer with
>mineral spirits. Upon cleaning up the blade I found the following inside of an
>engraved oval:
>
> W THACKERAY
> PLANE MAKER
> ARMLEY YORKS
>
>The plane is 1.25" wide and 7.625" long. Do any of you know any history on
>this maker? When his planes were produced? Any help would be appreciated.
>

Bill,

Information is pretty scarce in my references.

Ken Robert's in his English Woodworking Tools book has a single line
indicating that this company got in the metal plane business after 1860.

Goodman (British Planemakers) has the following:

Thackeray, John William         LEEDS
Wesley Rd, Armley               <1893>
67 Old Row Armley               1907 - 1912
Ivy Works, 51 Old Row, Armley   <1930
Metal plane maker

(Goodman uses brackets to indicate that he was probably in business
for more time in the direction of the bracket, but he could not pin the 
dates down.)

Great price,

Todd