Advertisement from the Ironmonger Diary, 1924
This firm was registered in 1923 (with £2,500 capital) to acquire for £1,250 the business carried on at Warbro Works, North Church Street. The firm was described as a merchant and manufacturer of all kinds of cutlery, spoons, forks, and holloware products, including silver and electro-plated teapots (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28 March 1923). The directors were Claude Harold Warren (1893-1975) and John William Warren (1890-?). They were the sons of John Warren, a colliery fitter and boiler smith, and his wife, Emma. The family came from Newhall, Derbyshire. Warren Bros was an office-based factoring operation (in other words, ‘buying-in’ its cutlery). It lost money and was wound up in 1926, when Claude was chairman. Claude continued to work as a cutlery factor and in the Register of England & Wales (1939) he was described as a commercial traveller in gold and silver. His brother may have become a builder. Claude died in Sheffield on 7 November 1975, leaving £8,886. John William’s death date is uncertain.