This branch of the Raworth family hailed from Derbyshire, until Benjamin Raworth (died c.1805), a bricklayer, moved to Sheffield towards the end of the eighteenth century (Griffin, 2007¹).  He apprenticed his sons into the cutlery trade.  These included Benjamin Raworth (d. 1810), a silver-plater, who married Sarah Pyrah.  Two of their sons became involved in cutlery manufacture.  These included Joseph Raworth (1786-1862) and Benjamin Pyrah Raworth (1788-1867).  The latter was apprenticed to scissor smith Francis Linfit for seven years and became a Freeman in 1808.  By 1816, Benjamin and Joseph were scissors manufacturers in Arundel Street.  By 1822, they were scissor smiths in Charles Street, where their mother was a grocer and flour dealer.   

By 1825, when the firm was listed as ‘late John Henfrey’, B. & J. Raworth had moved to Arundel Street.  Besides scissors, the enterprise produced crimping machines, patent axletrees, and coach springs.   By the 1840s, scissors manufacture had been dropped in favour of engineering products.  In 1848, Benjamin’s and Joseph’s partnership ended.  B. & J. Raworth was bankrupt in 1858, with debts of £8,600, after the death of Robert Raworth (apparently Joseph’s son).   Benjamin Joseph Raworth – Benjamin Pyrah’s son – had died on 28 February 1849, aged 30.  Joseph, late of Knowle House, died on 11 May 1862, aged 76; Benjamin, aged 68, was buried in Ecclesall on 14 March 1867.  A grandson of Benjamin, Joseph Smith Raworth (1846-1917), became an electrical engineer and inventor.

^1. Griffin, Judy, Raworth ancestry (2007). Posted at: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~hutchfp/genealogy/HUTCH/Raworth.htm