John Wheeldon (1843-1904) was born at Kimberley, Nottinghamshire. By the 1870s, he was trading in Sheffield in steam packings, leather beltings, and india-rubber goods. In 1875, he occupied Alma Rubber & Leather Works at Alma Street (opposite Union Wheel). In 1881, he employed eight men and a boy. By the 1890s, the factory was at Eyre Lane, where from Wheeldon advertised leather driving bands, guards for bicycles and motor cars, and acted as an agent for cycles.  John Wheeldon died on 20 July 1904 (aged 61) at his residence Ovenden House, Edge Hill Road, Nether Edge. He was buried at Ecclesall, leaving £3,448. Between 1883 and 1886, he had been a Conservative Town Councillor for Ecclesall (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 20 July 1904).

The freehold of the works, stock-in-trade, and goodwill were auctioned (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 21 September 1904). It seems that these were acquired by his son, John Thomas Wheeldon (1869-1910). The firm continued to trade as a leather and oil merchant at 90 Eyre Lane. After John Thomas’s death, John Wheeldon & Co was continued by his widow, Lillie née Sylvester (1869-1958). Lillie was the owner when it was registered as a private limited company in 1919, with £5,000 capital.  Lillie had been trading as an oil refiner and tallow melter as ‘John Wheeldon & Co’ and ‘John Thomas & Co’.  These interests were soon wound up. 

On 4 August 1923, The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, advertised an auction of the stock-in-trade at Alma Works, 90 Eyre Lane.  Interestingly, the sale did not include leather or rubber goods, but offered for sale a complete grinding hull (with electric motors), cased sets of stainless cutlery, and stock-in-trade of stainless, electro-plate, and nickel spoons, and forks. Various engineers’ tools were also for sale.  Perhaps Wheeldon’s had attempted to break into the emerging market for stainless cutlery, which would explain why the knife in the Hawley Collection carries the name of a leather and rubber manufacturer.