The Sorbys were amongst the oldest names in edge tools and cutlery (Clay, 1895, ii¹).  The first Master Cutler in 1624 was Robert Soresby and several Sorbys occupied the post.  By the late eighteenth century, three brothers were active in Attercliffe: Thomas (1752-1801), a schoolmaster; John (1755-1829), an edge-tool maker; and Samuel (1758-1815), a weaver.   Thomas later became a factor in Sorby, Hobson & Sorby, based in the Wicker and listed in 1797.  The other ‘Sorby’ was apparently Thomas’s brother, John; and Jonathan and George Hobson were partners.   John Sorby withdrew in 1799 and Thomas died on 9 May 1801, aged 49 (his burial was in Attercliffe).  Until 1810, Jonathan Hobson continued the firm in Spital Hill for the benefit of himself and Thomas’s estate.   The latter’s descendants included his daughter, Ann (1784-1868), who in 1803 married William Lockwood of Lockwood Bros.  Samuel’s son, John, founded the progenitor of Turner, Naylor & Co Ltd.

^1. Clay, John W. (ed.), Familiae Minorum Gentium  (London, 4 vols, 1894-6)