Joseph Whitworth was born in Sheffield in 1831, the son of William Whitworth (a scissor smith in Bow Street) and his wife, Ann.  Directories in 1833 and 1841 listed William Whitworth, warehouseman, Bow Street.  William was enumerated in the Census (1841) in Bow Street with Ann and three sons, William, Joseph, and Henry.   By 1851, Joseph was apprenticed as a scissors grinder (and living in Garden Street with scissors grinder Sidney Thorpe and his family).  In the Census (1861), Joseph was a scissors grinder, living with his wife, Adelina, and his 57-year-old widowed mother, Ann.  In 1868, Joseph advertised as a maker of fine scissors and tailors’ shears at 12 Brightmore Street (and also listed in Bolsover Street).  Whitworth was not listed in 1871.  He was apparently still working as a scissors grinder in 1881, but had been widowed.  Joseph Whitworth’s death date has not been traced, but it may have been in 1885, when he was aged 53.