Hello Thomas
Sorry I haven’t replied before to your posting about how little there is on Indian badge makers, but we were without electric here for a couple of evenings and I’m only now catching up with things. Anyway, yes I am aware that there is very little information to be had on this, though there’s quite a few examples of their wares on the Forum by now, and Mike did manage to get some details of Chatur Bihari & Bros of Aligarh from a family member which is now on the Markers’ Mark section
here
I did try and look at this whole question of Indian makers myself the other year, but admit didn’t get very far! Though I did find an interesting list in
Kelly’s Directory of Merchants, Manufacturers and Shippers of the World for 1940, Vol. II of which does cover ‘British India’. Under the section for ‘Aligarh (United Provinces of Agra and Oudh), a town in the Agra division, between the Ganges and the Jumna’, was the following list of lock manufacturers:
As you’ll see this includes Chatur Bihari & Bros, and there is also a “Sharma B. L. & Co”, which I would think must be the same as the mark “T.L.Sharma&Co” (I’m assuming the “B. L.” in the list is a mistake, though I did look at directories for a few years and they all had “B. L.” rather than ‘T. L.’). Interestingly too is the fact that there is no mention of ‘G. Karanjee & Sons’ in this list, or in any of the other categories under Aligarh, but, of course, there’s nothing to say this is comprehensive in any way, shape or form.
Best regards
Martin