The partners were Ernest Paget (1878-1955) and Thomas Frederick Senior (1862-1944).  They were Sheffield-born. The former was the son of George Paget, an engine tenter, and his wife, Sarah (daughter of Joseph Wostenholm). After leaving school, Ernest served an apprenticeship with Mappin & Webb and served time as a cutlery warehouse clerk.  In 1905, when he married Constance Mary Johnston (the daughter of an engineer) at Hathersage, he stated his profession as a cutlery manager. 

Thomas Frederick Senior was the son of James Senior, a silversmith’s manager, and his wife, Mary. Thomas was trained as a silversmith.  Apparently, he became manager at electro-plater, John Gallimore, Matilda Street, which also occupied part of the premises of George Butler & Co, 105 Eyre Street (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 3 May 1888).  In 1911, at Eyam he married Sarah Hannah Shaw, the daughter of a farmer.

Senior was an inventor of sorts. In 1892 and 1896, he registered patents on silverware items (biscuit boxes and plate warmers). He was older and more experienced that Paget. However, it was Paget who was first to start his own business in about 1907.  It was located at 100 West Street, in a building owned by R. C. Shirtcliffe & Son, a handle maker and scale cutter. Paget classed himself as a table knife manufacturer. In 1914, the registration of Paget & Senior Ltd was announced in the local press. The address was Eldon Place, 145 Eldon Street.  Eldon Place was a typical, tenement-style factory of three-storeys, with courtyard, offices, warehouses, stockrooms, showrooms, and workrooms. Paget & Senior shared the building with other businesses (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 15 February 1919). Senior would probably have contributed towards the capital of £5,000; certainly, he would have provided the expertise, which enabled the partners to expand into electro-plate and holloware goods.

Regular advertisements in the local newspapers for extra staff – buffers, hafters (using ivory and xylonite), burnishers, and silversmiths – suggest that the firm was reasonably successful during the First World War. This was despite a disappointment in 1915, when Paget & Senior failed in its pitch for an order for the Welsh Army Corp. Perhaps to provide room for expansion, in 1920 the firm relocated to Montrose Works in Harwood Street. This may have been a step too far and by 1923 Senior & Paget was offering to let workshops at Montrose Works. Despite marketing the latest stainless table knives and a serrated Montrose ‘KUTEZIE’ bread knife, the firm began accumulating debts.  It was liquidated in 1929.  Ernest became a commercial traveller for Southern & Richardson Ltd. This firm had been taken over by Needham, Veall & Tyzack (better known later as Taylors Eye Witness). Ernest worked for the latter until his death on 8 June 1955, aged 77. He was buried at Hathersage parish churchyard.

Senior later traded as Senior & Farquharson, Cairns Road, Crosspool. (His partner may have been James Farquharson.) In the Register of England & Wales (1939), Senior was residing at that address and described himself as a master silversmith.  His subsequent career is unknown.  He died in Sheffield in 1944, aged 82.

(Additional information on Ernest Paget courtesy of Roger de Mercado, Ernest’s grandson)