John Hartley (1823-1898) was apparently born in Rastrick on 21 March 1823, the son of Aaron and Mary.  His father was a weaver, but John was already a table knife hafter when enumerated as a 17-year-old in the 1841 Census in Rastrick.  He moved to Sheffield soon after.  In 1845, he married his first wife Elizabeth Brears (1827-1852) and by the next Census (1851) they were living in Port Mahon.  John was working as a table knife hafter.  By 1861, he was in Montgomery Road / Infirmary Road and  in 1853 had remarried to Mary Frances Askin (1825-1886).  They had two sons – John Henry Hartley (1856-1895) and Alfred Hartley (1858-1924).

In the 1860s, John Hartley Sen. was based in Garden Street.  In 1871, John Hartley & Sons was listed at 32 Garden Street.  However, within a year the Hartleys had occupied Daisy Works, 50 Daisy Walk (Upper Allen Street), where they manufactured table cutlery and butchers’ knives.  ‘Middle-class’ table knives comprised part of their output.  They also operated at Rivelin Cutlery Forge.  Advertisements in the local press suggest that they had more space than they needed and tried to let various parts of the factory.  In 1888, a fire seriously damaged the premises (Sheffield Independent, 28 September 1888).  Worse followed, when John Henry Hartley was found dead in bed in Fitzwilliam Street on 5 May 1895.  He was aged only 39.  An inquest returned a verdict of ‘misadventure’ from a suspected overdose of laudanum (Sheffield Independent, 6 May 1895).  He was buried in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery, leaving £249 to his widow.  His father did not long survive his passing.  John Hartley Sen., ‘manufacturer’, Dover Road, died on 11 March 1898 (aged 74).  He was buried in the General Cemetery.

In 1899, Daisy Works was auctioned.  Its two 3-storied buildings and two 2-storied buildings – including an engine house, beam engine, steam boiler, and troughs – were sold for £760 (Sheffield Independent, 31 May 1899).  Alfred became a commercial traveller and later a manager, presumably in the cutlery trades.  Alfred Hartley, Bannerdale Road, died on 26 March 1924, leaving £218.  (This profile draws partly on information from descendant Brian Hartley on Sheffield Indexers website.)