William Parkin was born in Sheffield in about 1840, the son of William Henry Parkin (scissor smith) and his wife, Hannah.  In 1841, they lived in Ball Street; by 1851, their address was Granville Street, next door to a family of scissor smiths named Hancock.  William Parkin’s first appearance in directories was apparently in 1868 as a scissors and shears manufacturer in Lord Street.  Soon he was based in Norwich Street.  In 1871, he told the Census that he employed six men, two boys, and two girls.  Parkin had at least two sons – William Henry and Joseph – and by the late 1870s the firm was Wm. Parkin & Sons, manufacturers of fine scissors, Norwich Street and Hague Lane.  Later the address was Granville Street.   

In about 1891, a Birmingham lock manufacturer devised a method of punching from sheet steel the shank, blade, and bow of scissors.   Parkin was impressed by the results and by the cost savings and apparently he became the sole agent for the patentee in Sheffield (Sheffield Independent, 15 October 1892).  In 1908, Parkin (aged 68) was involved in a humiliating court case, in which he had to pay £33 and costs for launching a malicious prosecution against a young girl over forty years his junior, with whom he had become infatuated (Yorkshire Telegraph & Star, 1 December 1908; The Courier, 31 May 1909).  He apparently ceased trading after 1916.  Parkin was buried in Burngreave on 2 February 1925.