Charles William Rodgers was born in Sheffield in about 1801 and by 1833 was a table knife maker and shop keeper in Westbar.  He succeeded to his grandfather’s business in 1836 and by the following year was making table knives – and running a beer house – in Lambert Street.  By 1845, when C. W. Rodgers advertised in a Sheffield directory, pen knives had been added to his output.  In the Census (1851), he was enumerated in Lambert Street as a 49-year-old cutlery manufacturer, who employed about ten journeymen.  He lived with his wife Rhoda née Broughton (born c.1804).  An advertisement in the 1852 directory gave prominence to table cutlery.  In 1859, Rodgers was also listed as a ‘fancy spring knife manufacturer’ and general merchant – still in Lambert Street, with a residence in Birley Street.  C. W. Rodgers died at Birley Street on 23 July 1860, leaving under £1,500.  Rhoda continued to trade as R. Rodgers & Son.