Advertisements show a start date of 1810.  The partners were John Sorby (1780-1829) – who was related to the Sorbys of Attercliffe – John Turner (bapt.1778-1857) from Eckington, and Henry Skidmore (c.1766-1822).  They made edge tools, cutlasses, and machetes in the Wicker.  After 1822, the firm became Sorby & Turner.  John Sorby died on 4 December 1829, aged 49, and was buried in Attercliffe (Sheffield Independent, 5 December 1829; 22 May 1830).  By the 1850s, Turner’s son Charles (1813-1885) and Joseph Turner (1810-1895) – apparently his nephew or son – were  in Earl Street.  In the directory (1856), they advertised the mark ‘I. SORBY’.  Charles withdrew in 1858 and Joseph Turner & Co began in Castle Hill.  In 1859, Joseph Turner registered the ‘PUNCH’ mark.  Joseph Naylor (1833-1928) and Thomas Goodwin became partners.  The latter left in 1868.  By 1871, Turner, Naylor & Co had been formed at Northern Tool Works, John Street, with 87 workers.  Charles Marples (1848-1901), from Wm. Marples & Sons, joined the firm.

In 1876, it was styled Turner, Naylor & Marples and re-registered ‘PUNCH’ and ‘I. SORBY’, claiming that they had been used since 1810 (information from Joan Unwin).  Besides edge tools, the firm advertised spring and table cutlery and its catalogues included pruning, butchers’, plumbers’, oyster, and carving knives, besides scissors.  In 1879, Turner retired; in 1893, Marples withdrew.  In 1897, Turner, Naylor & Co became ‘Ltd’ with £30,000 capital.  Naylor soon retired (he died in Norwich on 16 October 1928, aged 96, leaving £24,058).  In 1909, the firm was acquired by Wm. Marples & Sons.  In 1912, after a £10,000 loss, capital was reduced to £20,000.  However, the firm (which acquired the ‘I. & H. SORBY’ mark in 1932) traded until 1963.