Samuel Horrabin was baptised on 6 April 1774, the son of Mary (and an unknown father).  By 1816, he was listed as a pen and pocket knife maker in Hawley Croft (and may have been the cutler who registered a silver mark with Joseph Brammar in 1810).  By 1822, he was based in Scotland Street.   He died on 30 August 1822, aged 48, and was buried at St Paul’s churchyard.  His sons (by his wife, Jane) were William (bapt. 7 July 1799-1878) and Samuel (1808-1874).  By 1833, William and Samuel were merchants and manufacturers of pocket knives and sportsman’s knives.  Their address was Red Hill Works, Radford Street (built by Ashforth, Ellis).  William had been an apprentice knife maker and was granted his Freedom in 1842 (Samuel apparently purchased his Freedom in 1858).

In 1843, W. & S. Butcher took legal action to prevent Horrabin’s using a look-alike Wade & Butcher mark: ‘WADLLA/BUTIN’ (Sheffield Independent, 29 April 1843).  Ironically, Horrabin’s later warned about fraudulent use of its own mark – a Phoenix, granted in 1842  (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 28 December 1844).  In the 1840s, Horrabin’s had a New York office in John Street, which marketed pocket knives and Bowies.  In 1851, the firm employed 45 men; by 1861, between 60 and 70 men.  William lived at Western Villa, Western Bank; Samuel at Arlingon Villa, Broomfield.  Samuel died on 9 January 1874, aged 66, after ‘long and painful affliction’, and was buried at Fulwood.  William died on 14 January 1878, aged 78, and was buried in St George’s churchyard, Portobello, where his tomb can still be seen.  They left nearly £3,000 and £4,000, respectively.   The sales inventory of William’s tools and materials – including a dozen blade makers’ stithies, 60 vices, and a hundred workboxes – gives an idea of the operations of a medium-sized cutlery business (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 15 April 1878).   The factory was later occupied by J. & J. Beal.   

W. & S. Horrabin continued under William’s son, Samuel (1829-1907).  He was joined by Maurice Bocking (1858-1929), who was the son of Samuel Bocking.  In about 1881, they occupied Argyle Works, Hollis Croft.  The purchase price was £2,100 (of which only £200 was paid in cash, and the remainder mortgaged).  They employed seven men and three females.  By 1884, the partners had debts of £7,000 and the firm was liquidated.  Bocking was accused of fraud, but the court case was dismissed (Sheffield Independent, 2 May 1885).  The ‘Phoenix’ passed to John Baker; by 1919, it was owned by H. G. Long.  Another  mark, ‘TRUE’ (granted 1858), was sold to William Bocking.