Eggintons did not appear in Sheffield directories until 1821, when William Egginton was listed as a brass turner at Millsands.  His identity is uncertain, though the family can be traced as cutlers to the early seventeenth century.  In 1822, William’s name disappeared, to be replaced by James Egginton, a brass turner and ferrule maker at Meadow Street.  This was presumably James Egginton (bapt. 1786-1858), the son of William (a cutler).  He married Mary Beaumond.  The Eggintons gravitated to Hollis Croft, Broad Lane, and West Street, where they continued to specialise in brass turning and cap and ferrule manufacture.  James Egginton (bapt.1786-1858) was at Broad Lane, when he died on 7 November 1858, aged 72.  He was buried in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.   

By the 1840s, Henry Egginton I (1819-1882) – the son of James and Mary – was a brass turner in Broad Lane.  Henry had a varied career: he made brass hoops, caps and ferrules, fishing tackle, and self-lifting cork drawers.  In 1851, he became landlord at the Royal Oak, Hollis Croft, but was soon insolvent.  At the hearings, evidence was heard that Henry was ‘indolent, and neglected his business’ at the Royal Oak, though he was said to be suffering an ‘affection’ of the heart.  Henry promised to begin paying his debts (£81 against alleged assets of £18) and claimed that he could ‘coin money’ during the fishing season, as he had a fly which cost £20.  The judge remarked sarcastically that if he was going to coin any money that season, it should be paid to creditors (Sheffield Independent, 15 April 1854, 5 May 1855).  Henry was fond of organising fishing excursions, with prizes for the best catch, which may have been a way of raising cash.  He continued working in brass at Broad Lane, but by the 1870s was manufacturing steels for re-sharpening carving and butchers’ knives.  The cased carving sets of leading manufacturers were usually sold with a sharpening steel and these were often supplied by outworkers such as Henry Egginton.  He died on 25 October 1882, aged 63, and was buried in the General Cemetery.   He was no longer in debt and left £498.

Henry and his wife, Eliza (c.1819-1904), had a son, Henry Egginton II (1839-1916).   The latter became a brass turner in the Radford / Edward Street area.  He and his wife, Sarah (c.1839-1887), had eleven children.  These included the Egginton ‘brothers’, Henry Alonza Egginton (1859-1940) and Arthur Egginton (1861-1920).  According to the company, Egginton Bros began in 1872, but provided no details.  At that time, the brothers would have been teenagers.  Curiously, the first time Egginton Bros appeared in a directory was in 1884, as bicycle makers at Alfred Road, Brightside.  In 1887, Egginton Bros was listed at Broad Lane as butchers’ steel manufacturers.  By 1889, the firm (under Henry and Arthur) had moved to 32 Hollis Croft, where it was a manufacturer of butchers’ steels, and brass, German silver, and ivory turners.  It advertised in the Foreign Buyers’ Catalogue (1895) at Diamond Works (Beardshaw’s old file manufactory).  By the 1900s, the firm was in Edward Street.   In 1911, Henry Alonza apparently contracted anthrax below the eye (possibly from horn materials or from an adjacent bedding manufacturer), but was cured (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 27 February 1911).  Henry Egginton II, brass turner, was enumerated in the Census (1911) in a two-room dwelling in one of the courtyards in Radford Street.  He was living with his 12-year-old grandson, John Harrison.  The Census stated that his middle name was ‘Alonzo’.  He died in Beet Street and was buried on 12 June 1916 in an unconsecrated grave in City Road Ceme-tery.  He apparently left no will.

In 1918, the premises at Edward Street (which Egginton Bros shared with Walter Green Ltd) were extensively damaged by a fire.  The damage was estimated at £1,500 to £2,000, but was covered by insurance.  Arthur was at the works when the fire broke out (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 15 March 1918).  He lived at Monmouth Street and died on 1 May 1920, aged 58.  He left £465 to his widow, Florence Sarah.  According to Taylor (1992), Arthur succumbed to pneumonia induced by the shock of the fire.  Arthur’s eldest son, Cyril Egginton (1899-1968), became the senior partner in 1930 when Henry Alonza retired (he died in 1940, aged 81, and was buried in City Road Cemetery).   Cyril operated the business initially from Charles Street and then after 1934 from Wellington Street.  In the Register of England & Wales (1939), Cyril and his wife, Doris née Ruff, resided at Sandygate Road.  He described himself as a ‘working manufacturer of forks [hardener and temperer]’.  

After the Second World War, under Cyril’s direction, Egginton Bros became an important supplier of sharpening steels to Sheffield firms and developed an international trade.  In 1955, the firm became a limited company (trade mark ‘EB’).  In 1964, it occupied premises in Allen Street.  Cyril Egginton died on 7 December 1968, aged 69, leaving the firm to his daughter, Brenda Egginton (born 1930).  In 1953, she had married Ronald Ernest Brooks (born 1928), who joined the firm.  

In 1970, the firm took over another sharpening steels firm, J. A. Gill & Sons.  Egginton then employed about 25 workers.  Ron Brooks became managing director in 1984, with his wife as co-director (he was also assisted by his son Steve and by John Unsworth, as director and general manager).  In the 21st century, the Egginton Group continued to manufacture sharpening steels.  It also marketed a popular range of pocket, smoker’s, and hunting knives.  These were stamped with the names of traditional makers, such as George Wostenholm, Joseph Rodgers, Ibberson, and Wm. Rodgers, whose marks Egginton had acquired in the 1980s.   Egginton’s also owned the names of old-established butchers’ steel firms Jones & Longbottom and William Walton, and cutlers Stephenson & Wilson.   In 2022, the Egginton family business (capitalised at about £15,000) remained in Allen Street, with about thirty workers.