W. Shirley & Company
William Shirley (1833-1914) was the son of Thomas Shirley (d.1841), a grocer in Church Street, and his wife Elizabeth (daughter of Robert Dodge). William started as a merchant and manufacturer of pen, pocket, and sportsman’s knives, dirks and Bowies in about 1860, when he advertised in a Sheffield directory. He occupied Crescent Works in Carver Street; and his corporate mark was ‘OIO’. The timing was not ideal, because of the American Civil War. Nor did the venture attrac....
