George Latham was born in Sheffield on 24 October 1802, the son of William Latham (a cabinet maker) and his wife, Sarah (d. 1852).   In 1838, George Latham married Emma, the daughter of the late merchant Thomas Staniforth.  Latham was a cashier at the Sheffield & Hallamshire Banking Co.  In the Census (1851), he was a spring knife manufacturer, living in Gell Street.  He was listed in the directory (1852) as a manufacturer of table, shoe, and butchers’ knives in Brocco Street.  He acquired the trade mark ‘LIFE’ (once associated with Samuel Warburton and later with Francis Townsend).   As the sole manufacturer of the ‘Life Knife’, he warned against its piracy (Sheffield Independent, 26 March 1853).  

By 1860, the business was located in Wheeldon Street, with Latham’s residence in West Street.  In the 1860s, the Lathams apparently abandoned manufacturing:  George became a cutlery factor and his wife, Emma, was enumerated in the Census (1861) as a dealer in fancy goods.   Later she worked as a hosier, until her death in 1870, aged 58.  George Latham’s only daughter, Sarah, died on 28 March 1876.  George died within weeks on 10 May 1876, aged 73, at West Street.  Alongside other family members, he was buried in the General Cemetery (the register noting that he was a hosier).  His son, George Edward Latham, became a manager for Walker & Hall, until he died in 1902, aged 52.   His son was Thomas Charlesworth Latham.