This is likely to have been William ‘Willie’ Henry Wallis (1886-1959). He was the son of Frederick Tyson Wallis (1854-1942), who was a furniture dealer, and his wife, Matilda. The couple – who lived at Meersbrook in Heeley – had another son, Frederick Tyson Wallis Jun. (1885-1970). 

William became associated with England Bros & Co, a brass and nickel silver founder, and saw and cutlery rivet manufacturer. It operated at Turner Street. In 1912, William married Ethel, the daughter of one of the partners, Richard Robert England (1856-1923).  The Walliss family acquired an interest in the business. William took over after R. R. England retired in 1919. In 1928, he registered England Bros & Co Ltd as a private company, with £2,000 capital and Ethel as co-director.

The stainless knife in the Hawley Collection was probably factored by Walliss in the interwar period. As a brass and nickel silver founder, he would have had numerous contacts with cutlery manufacturers. In the event, during the 1930s England Bros & Co diversified instead into dental equipment. By the 1960s, it was listed as a specialist in dental laboratory equipment alone at 72 Arundel Street.  William Henry Walliss, of Edmund Avenue, Bradway, died on 27 May 1959. He left £7,573.