Alfred Tofield (c.1815-1880) was born in Wath-on-Dearne, near Rotherham.  By the late 1830s, Alfred and his brothers (James and Frank) were in Sheffield.  Alfred and James were flour dealers there and in Manchester; Frank was a haft and scale cutter and presser in Earl Street.  In 1841, Alfred Tofield & Co was listed as a table knife manufacturer and horn presser in that street.  Alfred’s partner was his brother-in-law Thomas Owen, a haft and scale presser, but they parted in 1849.  In that year, Alfred appeared in court in a financial dispute over alleged debts (Sheffield Independent, 21 July 1849).  In 1850, he was bankrupt, but continued trading as a horn presser and table knife manufacturer in Wellington Street.  In 1861, when he was living in Cemetery Road, he employed four men and a boy.  He had apparently retired from the cutlery trade by the late 1870s.  He died at Holly Mount on 10 April 1880, aged 64.  He was described as the youngest son of the late Captain Tofield, RN.  He left under £4,000.