Born in Heeley, Luke Wheatcroft may have been baptised at Sheffield parish church on 23 June 1799.  If so, his father was Luke (a cutler) and his mother was Mary.  He was listed by 1825 as pen knife manufacturer in Upper Heeley.  This district was on the outskirts of Sheffield at that time, but ‘by 1830 Nether Heeley was a busy area … In addition to the mill ponds, goyts and dams with their associated grinding wheels and trows, there was also pen and pocket knife manufacture’ (Heeley History Workshop, 2000).  The Wheatcrofts formed a small family cluster of local craftsmen.  In 1851, Luke was living with his brother Joseph – both working as spring knife cutlers.  In 1861, a George Wheatcroft (aged 45) was a spring-knife cutler in the same road.   In 1871, Thomas Wheatcroft, a 62 year-old spring-knife cutler, lived at 129 Gleadless Road, Heeley (earlier he had been listed at Headford Street and Bath Street).  Luke Wheatcroft appears to have retired by about 1868.  Luke Wheatcroft, 124 Gleadless Road, was buried in Christ’s churchyard, Heeley, on 28 February 1880, aged 80.