This enterprise was said to have been founded in 1835.  One partner was Benjamin Wilson, who in 1845 was living in Chester Street.  The other was William Frith (c.1806-1878), who by 1837 was listed in Broomhill.  Their speciality was shoe knives (and also table, butchers’, cooks’, and palette knives), which they manufactured (or factored) in the 1840s and 1850s in Chester Street.  Wilson seems to have withdrawn from the partnership, but the business continued in Milton Street between the 1860s and 1870s.  Frith died in Milton Street in 1878, aged 72, and was buried in Ecclesall on 23 August.  His son was Walter W. Frith, who acquired his early experience as a warehouseman before taking over the firm. 

In 1892, Wilson & Frith acquired Thomas Staniforth, which was a manufacturer of table cutlery and trade knives (for artists and plumbers) in Eldon Street.  An advertisement in 1892 stated that Wilson & Frith’s address was Albury Works, Eldon Street.  The trade mark was Staniforth’s ladder (picture).  The owner was A.H. Frith.  In the 1891 Census, Arthur Hobson Frith (b. 1876) was a 14 year-old errand boy, who lived with his father Walter W. Frith (a shopkeeper and stationer, but previously a table knife manager).  By 1901, Arthur and his brother, Walter Douglas (1882-1951), were listed in the Census as table knife manufacturers, living with their widowed mother in Havelock Street.  In the first decade of the twentieth century, Thomas Staniforth / Wilson & Frith was listed in 35 Eldon Street.  Thereafter, Wilson & Frith was listed alone and, under Arthur and Walter, continued to specialise in butchers’ knives.  Between the early 1920s and 1957, the company was based in Randall Street, but was defunct by 1961.  Arthur H. Frith died on 26 July 1964, aged 87, leaving £5,572.