The owner was Arthur Edward Thompson (1864-1945), who was the son of John Thompson (a commercial traveller in cutlery) and his wife, Emma.   Arthur became a manufacturer’s clerk.  In 1889, he had married Mary Gray Mitchell (d. 1939).  In the Census (1901), Arthur was a 37-year-old coal merchant ‘on his own account’.   In 1911, he was a manufacturer’s agent and had a son, Henry Arthur Thompson (1891-1966?), working as a cutlery manufacturer’s assistant.  

A. E. Thompson & Son was first listed as a cutlery manufacturer in 1925 at 41 Bowdon Street.  The firm specialised in stainless table cutlery and cased goods.  Thompson and his son were finishers and packagers rather than manufacturers.  They targeted the cheaper end of the market, which evidently involved compromises in a tough trading environment.  In 1927, Henry Arthur Thompson made a public apology to Cutlers’ Hall for making table knives marked ‘Best English Cutlery’, when the quality did not warrant that description (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 10 November 1927).  In 1930, the firm was fined £5 (plus 5 guineas costs) for selling dessert knives stamped ‘Firth Stainless’, when analysis showed that the cutlery was made from stainless steel that was not Firth’s (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 10 October 1930).  

In 1931, the firm moved a few doors along the street to occupy Victor Works at Bowden Place, 71 Bowdon Street.  The sales notice for the freehold described a three-storey ‘modern building’, which had eight rooms and a basement, with a yard, warehouses, and w.c.  (Sheffield Independent, 23 May 1931).  The modest size of Victor Works can be appreciated in a photograph posted at PictureSheffield, which shows part of Bowden Street later awaiting demolition.   There were some bright spots.  In 1935, the firm reported a good order from France for 100,000 bread saws and 1,500 sets of bread platters made by Bramhall & Co (Sheffield Independent, 22 February 1935).  

In 1939, Arthur Edward Thompson was a ‘commercial traveller retired’, living with his second wife, Augusta Mary Fairbairn, at Endcliffe Vale Road (Register of England & Wales, 1939).  His son was a table knife cutlery manufacturer, living with his wife, Elizabeth, at Carter Knowle Road.  A. E. Thompson’s residence was later at Moor Oaks Road.  He died there on 24 November 1945.  He was buried at the General Cemetery, leaving £1,599 to his widow.  After the Second World War, Henry Arthur continued the business.  It was listed in 1948, but not in 1951 or thereafter.   The trade mark was ‘PALACE’ (word and picture).