In the early 1870s, Thomas Hobson was a spring knife manufacturer at Chadburn’s Wheel, Stanley Lane, and then Nursery Wheel in Stanley Street, the Wicker.  He had been born at Conisbrough, near Doncaster, in about 1834.   In the 1860s and 1870s, he boarded in Bridgehouses and Pyebank.   He was described as either married or a widower in the Census, but there is no record of a wife; and his age varied.   He may have known William Rodgers (see John Rodgers & Sons) and used a Rodgers’ mark on occasion (Sheffield Independent, 24 January 1872).   He operated ‘William Rodgers’ from Nursery Wheel until about 1905 and may have died in 1907.  Hobson’s ‘I CUT MY WAY/WILLIAM RODGERS’ mincer-knife (depicted in White’s Directory of Sheffield, 1891; and White’s Hardware Trade Marks, 1892) passed to John Clarke & Son Ltd.