William Loy (bapt. 1797-1874) was apparently the son of Richard, a cutler, and his wife, Ann.  William first appeared in a Sheffield directory in 1821 as a table knife cutler at Love Street.  In the following year, his address was Hadfield’s Court, Love Street.  He soon moved to nearby Westbar and described himself as a table, butcher, cooking knife manufacturer and general dealer in cutlery.  By 1831, he was insolvent.  He had already moved to London, where in 1826 he had married Sarah Howell.  Their son, William Thomas Loy, was born in London in about 1828.  William Sen. established himself as a cutler and by 1851 was living at King Street, Westminster, and employing two men.  William and his son (who was working at St Martin’s Lane) mounted separate displays at the Great Exhibition in 1851.   Both won Prize Medals: the father for his skates; the son for a variety of razors, carving knives, and forks.  

William Sen. later lived at Battersea with his wife, Sarah.  In the Census (1871), William was still enumerated as a cutler.  He and Sarah, of 297 King’s Road, Chelsea, were buried on the same day (24 March 1874) and in the same grave at Brompton Cemetery.   Their son, William Thomas, later became a cotton broker and was also an enthusiastic microscopist, who became a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society.  He died in 1886, aged 58.