William Lister was born in Harthill, Rotherham, in about 1779.  He was listed as a factor in Broad Lane, where he operated until the early 1840s, selling pen, pocket, and table knives, and razors.  He was briefly in partnership with Joseph Fenton (possibly this one) under the style Lister, Son & Fenton.  But this was dissolved in 1834, when William and his son, William Lister Jun. continued as William Lister & Son.  In 1841, William Sen. was a factor in Broad Lane, living with his wife Martha and a son, John.  He left Sheffield soon after and by 1851 was living in Distillery Row, Norwich, where he was a cutler employing four men.   He died in Norwich on 22 June 1855, aged 76.  Martha died on 28 September 1857, aged 66.  The biography of William Lister Jun. is uncertain: he may have been the William Lister, born in Harthill in about 1816, who later traded as a grocer in Old Haymarket, Sheffield.  He died on 24 April 1868, aged 52, at his home Beighton Villa, Beighton, Derbyshire.  He left under £7,000.