Thomas Parkin was baptised in Sheffield on 8 July 1798.  He was listed in 1833 as a Britannia metal smith in Campo Lane.  In the mid-1830s, he partnered his brother Richard Parkin and then John Pearce until 1839.  By 1841, Thomas was working and living in Sycamore Street.  In 1851, he employed eight journeymen and apparently travelled for himself.  In the mid-1850s, he began selling electro-plate articles.  In 1871, Thomas Parkin worked in Sidney Street and resided at the more well-to-do address of Clarkehouse Road, where he lived with his wife, Eliza, and their son, Robert (b. 1841), who was also a Britannia metal smith.  He employed five men, a boy, and three women.  His firm was sold in 1874.  He was probably the Thomas Parkin, Glossop Road, who died on 24 January 1878, aged 79.