This branch of the Merrill family was based in Harvest Lane and manufactured forks.  Three generations of the family appear to have been involved.  Ralph Merrill (c.1750-1837) was the first.  The records of the Company of Cutlers listed Ralph Merrill, son of John (a husbandman at Barlow), who was apprenticed to John Powell (a cutler at Pitsmoor) in 1766 and became a Freeman in 1785.  Ralph’s son was George (c.1778-1835), who was apprenticed to his father (a fork maker) and was granted his Freedom in 1803.

Between 1816 and 1833, either George Merrill or Ralph Merrill & Son were listed in Sheffield directories as fork blade and table steel manufacturers at Harvest Lane.   The partnership ended in 1836, when George planned to continue alone.  Ralph Merrill died on 11 August 1837, aged 87, at Harvest Lane (Sheffield Iris, 15 August 1837).  In the directory (1839), George and his son – also named George (1804-1865) – were listed as fork makers at Harvest Lane.  In 1842, George Jun. was bankrupt (Sheffield Iris, 20 September 1842).   His father, though, continued to trade.

George Merrill Sen. died at Harvest Lane after a few days’ illness  on 12 November 1855, aged 77.  For twenty-two years he had been one of the deacons of Queen Street Chapel (Sheffield Independent, 17 November 1855).  It was announced that George Jun. would continue the business, though he was not listed thereafter in directories as a fork maker.   In the Census (1861), he was boarding at the Brown Cow Inn, Bridgehouses, and described himself as ‘late fork manufacturer’.   George Merrill, Pye Bank, died of bronchitis on 2 January 1865, aged 60.  He was buried in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.