George Cutts co-founded Cutts Bros.  When that partnership ended in 1857, George started an electro-plate and Britannia metal business at School of Art Works, Arundel Street.  In 1862, he placed two advertisements in White’s Directory: in one his firm was described as ‘late Joseph Wostenholme’.  This was Joseph Wolstenholme at 33 Broad Street.  That year, Cutts had relocated to these premises at Park Britannia Metal & Silver-Plate Works, 33 Broad Street, Park.  An advertisement in 1866 listed a branch at The Bar, Scarborough.  George Wish, Cutts’ nephew, became traveller.  The workforce was mostly female: in 1861, Cutts employed 14 men, three boys, and 34 girls.  By 1871, the workforce was 20 men, 29 women, and four boys.  Cutts was once prosecuted for employing a dozen children (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 13 December 1872).

The company’s first silver mark was registered in 1872.  Cutts resided at Truro Villa, Glen Road, Nether Edge, where he lived with his wife, Ann, and their two sons, William and George.  The firm became ‘& Sons’ in 1882.  George Cutts had died on 19 April 1881, aged 61 (he left £6,638 and was buried in Ecclesall).  The firm employed only seven workers and by 1889 was bankrupt.  George had married Eliza Ann, the daughter of Richard Wish, and became a railway porter.  William had married Mary Willis Batt, who was the daughter of John Batt.  Ill and depressed, she hung herself at her home in Nether Edge (Sheffield Independent, 28 October 1885).  In 1889, John Batt acquired the Cutts’ assets.  William Cutts retired and died in 1909 (his burial was at Ecclesall on 20 August).  His brother, George, died on 22 February 1927, and was buried at the General Cemetery.