This Jewish cutlery firm began in 1921, when the Smith family – who owned a wholesale cutlery and fancy goods warehouse – found that their suppliers, Seymour, had difficulties.  Albert Smith travelled from Manchester to reorganise the business and named the new firm, Smith Seymour & Co.  In 1925, Harry Robinson joined the firm (personal information from David Sayliss, 2012).   By the late 1930s, the company was Seymour, Smith Ltd and was based at Universe Works, Mary Street.  In 1938, a factory fire was reported, which provided a few details of the firm: namely, that it operated in a three-storey building and employed about 200 people (Sheffield Independent, 28 July 1938).  After another fire a year later, the workforce was stated as 150.  On the top floor, the firm had a mirror-finishing shop, warehouse, and cutlers’ shop; at the rear were workshops for chrome plating and grinding (Shefield Daily Telegraph, 29 December 1939; Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 29 December 1939).  At that address, too, was Tom Gilpin. 

Apparently, in 1962 Seymour & Smith Ltd – as a manufacturer of cutlery, holloware, and flatware – acquired Tom Gilpin Ltd with a capital of £34,000.  The combined firm employed over eighty workers at its peak and marked its table cutlery and carving sets as either ‘Tom Gilpin Ltd’ or ‘Smith, Seymour Ltd’.   Smith Seymour Holdings Ltd was wound up in 1982 and Universe Works was later converted into apartments.