Founded in 1838 as Moreton & Langley, this hardware merchant began at Horseley Fields, Wolverhampton. The owner was Wolverhampton-born John Moreton (1812-1879), whose ancestors were from Dublin. 

By 1865, John Moreton & Co had an office in Sheffield in Orchard Street, staffed first by Daniel Moreton and then by John Moreton Jun., who lived in Glossop Road. In the 1870s, the firm moved to Bridge Street and then to 96 Carver Street. John Ward was the foreman. Moreton’s also had offices in Wolverhampton and London (Sherborne Lane, EC). 

It marketed table, pen and pocket knives, and Bowies.  The trade mark was a butterfly. 

John Moreton, Moseley Court, Bushbury, Stafford, died on 19 November 1879.  He left under £120,000. 

Under John Ward, Moreton’s remained in Carver Street in the first decade of the twentieth century, but by 1910 had moved to Eyre Street, with Ernest Taylor Moreton as traveller.  It was at the Eyre Street address until it ceased trading in about 1929.  Herbert Moreton continued as a cutlery manufacturer in Eyre Street.