Joseph Kirkby & Co was listed in 1825 as a merchant and file manufacturer in Steelhouse Lane. By 1828, it had moved to Portobello Street. Apparently, the founder, Joseph Kirkby, had been born in Sheffield in about 1766. His wife was Hannah (c.1777-1869). She appears to have been widowed in the early nineteenth century (a Joseph Kirkby was buried in St Paul’s churchyard on 3 December 1824, aged 58). A partnership of Samuel Kirkby (Joseph’s son), George John Healey (who had marr....