The Casson family lived in Walkley.  James Casson was first listed in 1854 as a cutler and shopkeeper in Owlerton.  In 1863 and 1868 James Casson & Sons advertised as a manufacturer of pen, pocket, and sportsman’s knives in Industry Street, Walkley.  James’s two sons – William and James – appear to have taken over after their father’s death.  He died on 30 October 1870, aged 69, leaving under £200.   Also associated with the business was Thomas Ibbotson Yates, a spring knife manufacturer and neighbour of the Cassons in Industry Street.  He reported in 1871 that the firm employed 25 men.  By 1876, the enterprise had moved to Hollis Croft.  William Casson, Industry Street, died on 25 June 1883, aged 50, and was buried in St Philip’s churchyard, Shalesmoor.  By then, the business employed forty men (‘out and in’), according to Yates’s Census enumeration.  The business later operated from Garden Street and Industry Street, with Yates as the senior partner.   Yates, who lived at Hazledean, Spring Hill Road, died on 14 June 1909, aged 76.  He left £1,944.  Casson’s was still listed as a pen knife manufacturer in Garden Street after the First World War, but by 1925 had started factoring steel in Lambert Street.  The firm soon ceased business.  The trade mark was a bull dog.