This table knife would have been made in Sheffield (maker unknown) for Thorneloe & Co, a local watchmaker and jeweller. The Thorneloe family came from Coventry, where John Thomas Thorneloe (1842-1890) was born. He was the son of a weaver, but became a watch finisher and was later in partnership with Charles J. Wareham and William Wareham. This was dissolved in 1875. John T. Thorneloe continued to trade in Coventry, but in the late 1880s relocated to Sheffield. Frustratingly, the establishment date on the blade cannot be read with certainty (though the corrosion suggests a knife made before 1914). Other information in newspapers and directories shows that Thorneloe started in Sheffield in about 1887, when he acquired the watchmaking business of William Andrews in Orchard Street. Thorneloe continued to trade at Coventry, but eventually he and his family moved to Sheffield. In 1866, he had married Rebecca Ann Venn Cooper (1849-1921).

John T. Thorneloe died in Sheffield on 13 September 1890, aged 47, and was buried at City Road Cemetery. He left £292 to his widow, who became proprietor of the watchmaking concern (now in Division Street). By 1905, the family also had a small shop at Spital Hill (Picture Sheffield S19628).  After Rebecca’s death, her son Jonathan Virginius Hill Thorneloe (1869-1950) operated the watch and jewellery shop in Division Street. The business apparently ceased trading soon after the end of the Second World War. J. V. H. Thorneloe was described as retired at his death on 8 September 1950, when his estate was valued at £7,776.