In 1774, Broomhead, Wilkinson & Brittain was a cutler and factor in Sycamore Street.  Adam Broomhead (Broomhead, Hinchsliffe & Co) was apparently one partner.  George Brittain (1739-1812) was another.  So, too, were Thomas Wilkinson (d. 6 September 1788) and Jonathan Wilkinson (possibly this one?).  Jonathan France, a file smith of Blind Lane, also joined.  In 1784, Broomhead, Wilkinson & Brittain was dissolved.  Later that year, George Brittain registered a silver mark ‘GB’ at Arundel Street and alongside Jonathan Wilkinson, Peter Brownell, and Joseph Ibberson launched a new partnership.  Ibberson withdrew and the next year a mark for ‘Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownill [sic]’, platers and silversmith, was registered.  In 1785, a ‘Ring’ mark was registered for silver wares.  Other marks included: ‘BROOMHEAD’, ‘FRANCE’, ‘GB’ (with Maltese Cross), ‘ACIER FONDU’, and ‘EXCELLENT’.  The Sheffield directory (1787) listed Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell as ‘factors and manufacturers of cutlery wares’, Arundel Street.  In 1797, the address was Sycamore Street.  Jonathan Wilkinson died on 23 November 1793 and was buried at St Peter & St Paul (Leeds Intelligencer, 2 December 1793).  George Brittain of Norton Lees had been Master Cutler in 1773.  He died on 31 May 1812, aged 73, and was buried at St Paul’s.  Peter Brownell came from a prosperous Norton scythe-making and farming family.  Its members became established at Newfield Hall, Newfield Green, as leading figures in the Upper Heeley community (Kingston, 2004¹).  When Peter Brownell was apprenticed (he became Freeman in 1783), his father Luke paid a record premium of £132 to George Brittain.  Brownell, who married one of the Wilkinsons, became Master Cutler in 1807 (Clay, 1894-6²).
 
In 1814, the partnership was reorganised.  George Brittain’s sons – William (1772-1838), Verdon  (1779-1843), and George (1783-1842) – joined.  Brittain, Wilkinson & Brownell, moved to Carver Street and in the 1820s were merchants and manufacturers of table knives and forks, razors, and pen knives, steel converters and refiners.  Brittain, Scheiner & Co also traded at Rio de Janeiro.  In 1821, William Brittain withdrew, but left money in the firm.  In 1822, Jonathan France left (he died on 10 December 1825, aged 74).  The business was managed by Verdon Brittain.  Peter Brownell died at Newfield House on 15 February 1828, aged 66.  Besides Master Cutler, he had been a member of the Town Trust and a Town Collector.  ‘As a merchant, he was eminent.  In all public affairs he was most useful and munificent; in private life, liberal and generous.  He had a manly and independent spirit …’ (Sheffield Independent, 16 February 1828).  During the 1830s under Verdon, the firm converted and melted steel and was also a leather fuller at Twelve O’Clock Wheel.  Verdon’s daughter married Daniel Holy; his brother, James (bapt.1786-1832), was a Buenos Aires merchant.  

William Brittain died at Norton Lees on 23 September 1738.  The Brittain and Brownell families parted in 1840.  George Brittain died at Sobrado, Rio de Janeiro, on 31 March 1842.  Verdon sold his Gell Street residence and retired to Guernsey, where he died on 31 May 1843, aged 63.  The Brittains later concentrated on steel and edge tool manufacture, though briefly retained an interest in cutlery.  Meanwhile, Peter Brownell’s sons – Charles and Robert Robinson (from his marriage to Marianne Wilkinson, the daughter of Jonathan) – operated in the 1840s as R. R. & C. Brownell, merchants, in Carver Street.  Charles Brownell (b. 1802) went to Liverpool to represent the firm.  William Brittain’s previous financial arrangements later caused a dispute with the Brownell’s (Sheffield Independent, 10 April 1847).  Robert Robinson Brownell, Cliffe Field, died on 18 March 1849, aged 52.  He was buried at Christ Church, Heeley.  In 1856, Brownell’s operated from Eyre Street, with William Stacey as agent.  By 1857, the Brownell business had been succeeded by Stacey, Pease & Co.  Charles Brownell, JP, died on 24 January 1863 and was buried at Norton.  He left under £8,000.  Stacey, Pease & Co and then Gem acquired the ‘GB’ mark.  

^1.  Kingston, Jos, Life & Death in Elizabethan Norton (2004).  Posted at: www.joskingston.org

^2.  Clay, John W (ed), Familiae Minorum Gentium  (London, 4 vols, 1894-6)