In 1787, Lemuel Davison registered a silver mark at Spring Croft.  Little is known about his early life, except that he was a Quaker.  He was the son of William, a scissorsmith, and his wife, Elizabeth.  Lemuel was married twice: in 1780 to Alissimon Burkitt, the daughter of a John (a brushmaker) and Sarah; and in 1783 to Ann Parkin, the daughter of the late Jonathan Ellis (a mercer) and Rachel.  Lemuel’s birth date has not been traced and his name is not among the apprenticeship listings of the Company of Cutlers (though he did take on apprentices himself).  In the Sheffield directory (1787), he was listed as a pen and pocket knife maker at Smithfield.  His trade mark was ‘IMPERIAL’.  By 1797, he was based at Sheffield Moor.  In 1799, a partnership with Thomas Fishbourne and Richard Wilson was dissolved.  Davison continued with Fishbourne, but this arrangement ended in 1803.  Lemuel Davison last appeared in a directory in 1811 at South Street.  His death date has not been traced.