This cutler had been a spring knife manufacturer since at least 1845, when he was listed in St. Thomas Street.  A pen knife maker of the same name in School Croft in 1841 should be noted.  In 1851, John Hancock (aged 34) was living in St Thomas Street.  He employed three men at a yard in West Street (the local directory in 1852 mistakenly listing him as Jonathan).  The Census (1861) shows that he had moved house to Ecclesall Road and was still working as a spring knife maker.  By 1870, he had joined the exodus of Sheffield cutlers to Waterbury, Connecticut.   His 54-year-old wife, Mary Ann, died from a stroke at Southington, Connecticut, on 30 April 1872.   John Hancock was listed in 1895 as working at Southington Cutlery Co, making pocket cutlery.  His son, Samuel, had started a business selling stoves and heating systens.  John Hancock died at Southington on 18 January 1899.