Joseph Unwin was apparently the son of John Unwin and his wife, Mary.  He was baptised on 5 November 1780 at St Peter’s parish church.  His father was a scissor smith, who was listed in Church Street (1774), Brinsworth’s Orchard (1787), and Orchard St (1797, 1811).  He used the trade mark ‘HOPE’, which he passed to his son, who by 1816 was listed in South Street as a scissor maker (his father had apparently either retired or died).  Between 1816 and the end of the 1820s, he was listed in South Street.  His last address in 1833 was Court 73, Rockingham Street.  He died on 7 December 1833, ‘after a long and severe illness, which he bore with Christian fortitude and resignation to the Divine Will’ (Sheffield Independent, 14 December 1833).  He was buried in the parish churchyard of St Peter & St Paul.