The partners – presumably the sons of Benjamin Sen., who died on 14 October 1770, aged 56 – were Benjamin Withers (c.1745-1823; Master Cutler, 1794) and Joseph Withers (c.1749-1820; Master Cutler, 1802).  By 1774, they were part of Birks, Withers & Sykes, silver handled table knife manufacturers, Pinstone Croft Lane.  This ended in 1780.  In the following year, Benjamin Withers registered a silver mark from Norfolk Street.  Between 1781 and 1791 the Withers’ and Sykes’ remained connected.  Sykes’ was a specialist in silver handles for table knives, while Withers’ manufactured the blades.  In 1797, B. & J. Withers were listed in a Sheffield directory as pen and pocket-knife cutlers, Fargate.  Their trade mark was ‘LESPANGE’, with a pistol motif.  Joseph Withers died on 22 November 1820, aged 70, and was buried at St Paul’s.   Benjamin Withers died on 1 December 1823, aged 78.  He was also buried in St Paul’s, where he had been a warden.  His son, Benjamin (1781-1853) inherited the business, but apparently had retired by the end of the 1820s.  The warehouse was in Barker’s Pool and Benjamin infuriated the locals by refusing to allow its use.  He died at his residence in Clarkehouse Road on 19 January 1853, aged 72, and was buried in St Paul’s churchyard.  Local feeling was apparent in his obituary, which described him as:

‘remarkable for his penurious habits, for the profound secrecy in which he enveloped all his affairs, for his keeping a considerable property unproductive for many years, owing to an inexplicable whim, and for his wealth … Unfortunately, the world was little the better for his acquisitions, whether pecuniary or mental’ (Sheffield Independent, 22 January 1853).  

Benjamin had lived with his only sister, Sarah, who died on 31 December 1861.  In Benjamin’s memory, she bequeathed £10,000 for the care of the monuments in St Paul’s and for the Withers’ pensions, which were to be dispensed to widows and single women in poor circumstances.