This cutler was apparently baptised in Sheffield on 18 October 1795, the son of Joseph (a cutler) and Mary.  He was listed as a manufacturer of so-called Chinese [pressed-horn handled] knives in 1828 in Pea Croft.  In 1841, Joseph Washington was enumerated in the Census as a ‘cutler’ at an address in Radford Place Bank.  During the 1840s, Washington transferred his activities to Leicester Street, from where in 1849 he advertised as a maker of Spanish knives.  He now lived in Solly Street.  In the 1850s, he and his son – also named Joseph – were listed as cutlers (and sometimes shopkeepers) in the Pea Croft / Leicester Street area.  According to the 1851 Census, his firm employed eleven men and an apprentice.  

Joseph Washington, Pea Croft, died on 10 September 1854, aged 59, and was buried in Portobello churchyard.   Joseph Washington – presumably his son – was listed in 1856 as a spring knife manufacturer in a yard in Eyre Street.  He was aged about 26.  However, the name disappeared from the directory listings after that date and Joseph Jun. appears to have emigrated.  An obituary (Sheffield Independent, 13, April, 12 June 1876) noted the death on 23 March of Joseph Washington, the son of the late Joseph Washington, cutlery manufacturer of Leicester Street.  He had died in Northfield, Connecticut, where Sheffield cutlers such as Charles Platts were making pocket knives.  He was aged 46.  Joseph Sen.’s youngest son, John, died in Sheffield on 2 May in the same year, aged 37.