Several members of the Warburton family were active in the cutlery trades in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (and the name also occurs before then in the listings of Freemen).  Their histories are difficult to unravel, but the following disparate information has been collected:

• Samuel Warburton: listed as a manufacturer of pocket knives in Hollis Croft between 1774 and 1797 (trade mark ‘WARBURTON’).

• Samuel Warburton, listed in Bridgehouses between 1774 and 1797, making pen knives and razors (trade mark ‘LIFE’).  The ‘LIFE’ trade mark was later used by George Latham and Francis Townsend.

• William Warburton: listed in 1797 in Milk Street, using the mark ‘WLM’ on table knives.

• Thomas Warburton: razor manufacturer, listed in Coalpit Lane (1774, 1787); Burgess Street in 1787 (trade mark ‘LISBON’, with a cross); and Charles Street (1811).  Thomas Warburton was listed as a razor manufacturer in Charles Street between about 1817 and the 1830s. A razor smith of that name in Charles Street was buried in St Peter’s on 24 December 1821, aged 74.  However, the name was still listed in Charles Street until 1833, when the address became Arundel Street.  Thomas Warburton, Arundel Street, died on 18 June 1833, aged 56, though St Peter’s burial register described him as a scissors manufacturer and not a razor smith.  Additionally, Thomas Warburton – unidentified, but a cutler in the Wicker – was buried St Peter’s churchyard in 15 December 1831, aged 29. 

• Joseph Warburton: manufacturer of table knives, who formed a partnership with Thomas Johnson Badger.  Listed as a table knife manufacturer and dealer in 45 Pond Street in 1825, Warburton & Badger was dissolved in 1828.  Joseph was listed alone in the Wicker between about 1828 and 1846.  He was probably the Joseph Warburton, who died on 17 October 1846 (aged 50) and was described in his press obituary as a table knife manufacturer and the eldest son of the late William Warburton.  He was buried in St Peter’s churchyard.