The founders – Edward Atkinson (1846-1904) and John Furniss Atkinson (1851-1914) – were the sons of William Atkinson (a draper) and his wife Caroline Frances Bacon.  Their mother was the daughter of Henry Andrew Bacon, who had launched The Sheffield Independent newspaper.  William Atkinson, Broomgrove, died on 29 November 1874, aged 76, leaving under £2,000.  Caroline died only hours later on 1 December 1874, aged 56.

Edward and John trained as cutlery clerks: the former at E. Parker & Sons.  In 1872, Atkinson Bros began business, apparently as a joiners’ tools maker in Thomas Street and Broomhall Street.  By 1876, it was operating from Milton Works, Milton Street, as a merchant and manufacturer of pen and pocket knives, shoe and butchers’ knives, besides razors, scissors, and edge tools.  By 1880, it was one of the few Sheffield cutlery firms to urge the use of machinery and also favoured celluloid handles.  The brothers employed 80-100 workers and claimed to have the largest output of table knives in the town and to be a major supplier to the British Army.  In 1884, Atkinson’s bought Ebenezer Parker’s name and mark.  Other Atkinson Bros’ corporate marks were the punning ‘BEAR IN MIND’; ‘3340’ (first granted in 1815 and used after about 1882); a swimming man; and ‘A. BRIGHT’ and ‘BRILHO’ – the marks of Augustus and Selim Bright.

The partnership prospered and the brothers acquired residences in Dore.  They were Conservatives, Freemasons, and Churchmen.  John, who lived at Milton House, was the more prominent.  He was a town councillor, JP, and became involved in cutlery trade issues.  In 1881, he helped launch the Sheffield branch of the Fair Trade League (which soon had Sir John Bingham, of Walker & Hall, as president).  The League urged the imposition of tariffs on those countries that refused to adopt free trade.  Atkinson’s long-winded correspondence on the subject in The Sheffield Independent made the case for ‘fair’ trade against his numerous critics.  These included the Independent’s editor, who ridiculed Atkinson’s protectionism (Sheffield Independent, 17 September 1884).  Atkinson was also a keen supporter of trade mark defence against bogus ‘Sheffield’ imports.  He was described as an accomplished linguist, whose business travels covered North America, Europe, and Africa.  In 1892, J. F. Atkinson became Master Cutler.  The Feast, which was attended by an Indian Maharajah and the explorer Henry M. Stanley, was described in the local press as one of the most ‘brilliant’ in memory (Sheffield Independent, 3 September 1892; Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 4 November 1892; Ironmonger, 3 September 1892).

J. F. Atkinson featured in a vanity publication, Men of the Period (1896), which inflated his achievements and Atkinson Bros’ workforce (supposedly ‘nearly 500 hands’).  In the following year, when Atkinson Bros was registered as a ‘Ltd’ company, a bullish prospectus was issued.  J. F. Atkinson was chairman, with Edward Atkinson as one of the directors: the others were Septimus H. Ward and Robert William Walker (b.1863).  The latter was works manager.  Ward was a wealthy brewer, who owned Sheaf Brewery and had interests in railway companies and may have regarded cutlery as a useful addition to his portfolio.  The nominal capital was £100,000 (£51,940 issued), with the company’s premises located at Milton Works, Exchange Works, and Porter Island Works.  An increased output of files, razors, and scissors was promised from Exchange Works, alongside plans to expand the manufacture of silver and electro-plate (using silver marks registered in Sheffield in 1897 and 1898).

The prospectus pointed to the 10 to 15 per cent dividends enjoyed by firms such as Rodgers and Wostenholm.  In 1899, Atkinson’s publicised a large government order, which included 210,000 table knives, 170,000 table forks, and 75,000 sailors’ clasp knives.  Army issue cutlery was provided during the Boer War.  A new showroom was opened at Milton Works and crucible steel capacity leased at Britannia Steel Works.  In 1900, John launched English Celluloid Co Ltd (share capital £150,000), with works on the Continent and a projected factory at Port Talbot.  However, in May 1904 Atkinson Bros announced a trading loss of £14,000.  Ward replaced J. F. Atkinson as chairman.  On 9 June 1904, Edward died, aged 57, at his residence in Broomgrove Road, after suffering from heart disease.  He was buried in Dore cemetery, leaving £365.  Septimus Ward died in the following year, when capital was reduced to £33,686.  English Celluloid also recorded losses.

J. F. Atkinson had apparently left Sheffield at the end of 1900.  Two years later, he divorced his wife, Clara Elizabeth née Posgate, whom he had married in 1875.  Atkinson cited Dore physician John Charles Aldred as co-respondent.  (Clara and Aldred soon married and eventually settled in New Zealand.  They were buried in Waiuku cemetery: John Charles in 1921 and Clara in 1937.)  In 1906, English Celluloid was wound up.  In 1911, John F. Atkinson was enumerated in the Census at the Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury.  London.  He had re-married and was with his new wife, Gertrude Mary, who was 25 years his junior.  He gave his occupation as ‘director of public companies (financial)’.  He was chairman of Railways & General Construction & Maintenance Co Ltd; and a director of Anglo-Cuban Oil, Bitumen & Asphalt Co Ltd.  Atkinson Bros was wound up in 1913.  J. F. Atkinson retired and died at No. 19 Windlesham Gardens, Brighton, on 7 August 1914, from arterio-sclerosis and kidney disease.  He was aged 63.  No probate has been traced and he died in obscurity.  His widow, Gertrude Mary, of Brunswick Square, Hove, married in 1920 Charles George Davis, a St Albans seed merchant.

In 1913, though, Atkinson Bros Ltd had been resurrected with a £15,000 capital issue by Charles Blyth Ward (the son of Septimus), Robert William Walker, and Thomas Creswell Parkin (apparently the son of an accountant).  After the War, Atkinson’s continued at Milton Works and Britannia Works (the latter at Soho Street, then later in Eyre Street).  However, Atkinson Bros was liquidated again in 1933.  John Bedford & Sons Ltd acquired the Atkinson marks for use on its tools.  After 1945, ‘Atkinson Bros’, ‘Parker’, and ‘Bright’ (and Milton Works) reappeared as stand-alone names at Radford Street and then Herries Road – presumably owned by Hiram Wild.