John Askham was born in Sheffield – probably in 1817 - the son of Joshua, a cutler, and his wife, Elizabeth.  He apparently served his apprenticeship in Broad Lane, where Samuel Frost operated a cutlery manufactory.  In about 1850, Askham became a partner in the table cutlery business of Frost, Askham & Mosforth at Broad Lane Works.  Thomas Mosforth (b. 1821), was the son of a table-knife forger.  Local historian Mary Chesworth (1984), who located a billhead for the firm, wrote that ‘the partnership ... seems to have been of very short duration’.  Frost retired and by 1852 the firm was Askham & Mosforth, with the former based in New York (Askham’s five-year-old son died there in 1850).

In 1855, Askham & Mosforth was dissolved and John Askham became the sole owner.  In 1856, he ran a full-page directory advertisement for Broad Lane Works as a manufacturer and merchant of table cutlery, spear knives, pocket cutlery, saws, files and edge tools.  His products, ‘adapted ... especially for the United States of America’, were sold at a New York office in Pearl Street,. By 1861, Askham was living in Gell Street with his wife, Susannah, and told the Census that he employed about a hundred men.  The Children’s Employment Commission (White, 1865) depicted working conditions at Askham’s as cramped, neglected, and untidy.  Meanwhile, Askham lived in houses at the best addresses, such as Osborne Road and Machon Bank Road.  He became a Town councillor, a pioneer in the Temperance movement, and a prominent Congregationalist.

In 1881, the business employed about 25 men.  John Askham continued to visit the USA until at least 1884.  He died, aged 76, in Bournemouth on 18 January 1894.  He was buried in the General Cemetery and left £6,299.  His son, Frank Chaplin Askham (1861-1923), inherited Broad Lane Works.  It remained neglected and unsafe and the owner was fined for illegally employing children (Yorkshire Telegraph, 19 July 1901).  By 1914, Askham had switched to the manufacture of cardboard boxes.  Askham’s mark was a toboggan (name and picture); the firm also owned the names ‘J. A. ASHTON’ and ‘J. SHARPE’.