Harry Hamilton Murfin (1870 - 1940) and Frank Hamilton Murfin (1872 - 1835) were the sons of William (a district manager of the London & North Western Railway Co) and his wife, Eliza Jane. The family lived in a house at Manchester Road. According to an advertisement, Murfin Bros was founded in 1854. However, this date may have referred to Murfin's predecessor companies: Joshua Bownes, Guion & Co, and Horton & Green. Harry and Frank presumably acquired the modest assets of these companies. In 1891, they were listed as owners of Guion & Co, a joiners' tool maker, at 41 Eyre Street. They soon mved to premises at Mary Street (which they named Guion Works) as Murfin Bros.

Neither Harry nor Frank had nay experience of the steel and tool trades and Guion Works was the usual collection of rented workshops. Most of the manufacturers depicted in the advertisement in 1895 -joiners' tools, needles, hammers, picks, and boring tools - would have been factored. In 1897, the business suffered a setback, when Frank Mufin fractured his skull, after falling from his bicycle on Hollows Meadow Road (he had collided with another cyclist). His injuries were critical, but evidently he recovered (Sheffield Independent, 3 July 1897; Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 5 July 1897)

Little is known about the business or its output. Possibly, the brothers struggled and the factory was too big. In 1910, they offered for rent at Mary Street a large forging shop, with seven hearths, and three steam hammers (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 5 April 1910). Frank Murfin seems to have been the dominant partner in the firm. However, Murfin Bros continued to trade at Mary Street into the interwar years, when it was listed in directories as a cutlery manufacturer. Frank died on 27 December 1935, leaving £2,482; Harry on 3 April 1940, leaving £1220.