Several Cawtons had been Master Cutler: namely, Ezra Cawton (1706), Joshua Cawton (1736), and Joshua Cawton (1770).  Leader (1905-06)¹ recorded that the latter had literary tastes and a large library.  He and his sons made table and pocket knives in Snig Hill and were listed in directories (1774, 1787, and 1797), using the mark ‘CAWTON’.  In 1782, a silver mark was registered by Jossiah [sic?] Cawton, Snig Hill.  One of Joshua’s sons, Benjamin, died on 18 May 1792.  ‘In a fit of despondency, [he] destroyed himself, by swallowing a potion of the oil of vitriol’ (Sheffield Register, 25 May 1792).  He left a pregnant widow and thirteen children.  Joshua Cawton, of Snig Hill, died on 23 September 1796 and was buried at the parish church (Leeds Intelligencer, 3 October 1796).

^1. Leader, R E, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire in the County of York (Sheffield, 1905-6)