Samuel Lawton (1818-1866) was born in Sheffield, the son of George Lawton (a mason) and his wife, Frances.  By 1841, Samuel was living in Allen Street and working as a journeyman razor maker.  His parents lived in the same street.  Samuel was listed in Bower Spring as a razor manufacturer in 1846; then by the end of the decade in Scotland Street.  By 1851, he had two apprentices, who lived in Scotland Street with him, his wife Mary, their two sons (Samuel and Henry), and a servant girl.  Lawton & Froggatt, razor and table knife manufacturer, was listed in 1854 – though this apparently lasted no more than a year or so – and Lawton again operated alone.  In 1862, he was taken to court by Stacey, Pease & Co for infringing their mark.  Samuel Lawton, ‘razor maker’, Duke Street Moor, died on 24 April 1866 (aged 48).  His son Samuel died in 1871, aged 26; and wife Mary in 1895, aged 76.  Their remains lie in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.  Lawton’s effects were sold after his death from Italian Works, corner of Duke Street, Eyre Street.  The advertisement listed a stock of table knives and razors, eight tons of ‘very superior steel’, forgers’ tools, and cylinder bellows (Sheffield Independent, 8 February 1867).  John Nicholson became Lawton’s ‘successor’.