Peter Spurr was apprenticed to Joseph Ibbotson in 1748 and became a Freeman in 1758.  He traded in Church Lane in workshops rented from the Company of Cutlers.  In 1787, Spurr was listed as a maker of pen and pocket knives (trade mark ‘SPUR’).  In 1781, he became Master Cutler.  In 1788, Peter Spurr & Son registered a silver mark as a plate worker from Church Lane.  Peter Spurr probably died that year (his name appeared in the burial register of the parish church).  His son was also named Peter (1768-1838).  In 1794, Spurr apparently moved to Thomas Bradbury’s premises.  By 1797, Spurr was listed as a pen and pocket knife, and lancet and fleam maker (trade mark ‘ECHO’) at No. 56 Arundel Street.  Spurr’s had a large Irish trade (Sheffield Independent, 11 September 1872).  One of Spurr’s workers – Daniel Hemmings (d. 1820? aged 43) – was said to have invented the oval shield in pocket knives (Sheffield Independent, 25 January 1873).  Spurr may have been a partner in Samuel Bennett & Co, a pen knife manufacturer.  This partnership with Samuel Bennett, William Harwood, and Lewis Thomas was dissolved in 1813. 

In the 1820s, Peter Spurr & Son was listed as factor and merchant of table knives, razors, and lancets, at 89 Arundel Street (with a residential address at Heeley Bank).  Peter Spurr became Master Cutler in 1824.  The family was well connected.  Peter Spurr Sen.’s sister had married Master Cutler Thomas Tillotson; and a daughter of Spurr Sen. married a son of Josephus Parkin.  Peter Jun. had married Hannah, a grand-daughter of Thomas Newbold (Master Cutler in 1751).  The family was also linked with the Cadmans.  In 1822, Spurr & [Peter] Cadman was listed at 89 Arundel Street as a maker of brass bolsters and pocket knives.  This was ‘successor’ to John Ellis & Co (see Ellis & Co).  The firm was dissolved in 1823.  As Leader (1905-6) remarked: ‘All this is rather complicated, but it is typical of the ramifications of Sheffield families’.  In 1831, Peter Spurr announced that he was ‘declining business’ and selling his stock (Sheffield Independent, 21 May 1831).  He had an office in Eyre Lane in 1833, but by 1837 was described as a ‘gent’ in Heeley Bank.  He died there on 30 July 1838, aged 70, and was buried in St Paul’s churchyard.  His wife Hannah was buried in the same cemetery on 13 February 1847, aged 75.  ‘ECHO’ was later used by James Barlow & Sons.