Edmund Bell was a fruit knife manufacturer, whose biography is obscure.  He was born Edmund Parrott in Manchester in about 1852.  By 1861, he was living at 85 Montague Street, Sheffield, with Jonathan Bell and his wife, Thirza (born in Lincoln).   At the same address was Thirza Parrott, aged 19, who had been born at Boston, Lincolnshire.  Edmund and Thirza Parrott were described as ‘niece’ and ‘nephew’.   By 1871, Edmund was still living with Jonathan and Thirza as their ‘nephew’, but had adopted the name ‘Bell’.   After Jonathan’s death in 1877, Edmund continued as a silver fruit-knife manufacturer and registered a silver mark ‘EB’ in that year.  He was still based at Montague Street, living with the widowed Thirza, and the family of the younger Thirza (who had now married a file hardener, named Lockwood).   The elder Thirza died in 1895, aged 81, and was buried in Ecclesall.   Edmund then apparently sold the property at 83/85 Montague Street, which had dwellings, workshop, office, and yard (Sheffield Independent, 26 September 1899).  By 1901, Edmund P. Bell was ‘living on his own means’ in Eyam.  He died (aged 58) at Warrington Road, Crookesmoor, and was buried in Ecclesall on 22 January 1910.  The register noted his name as Edmund Parrott Bell.

The ‘Edmund Bell’ name had been acquired by John Guest Crowther (1857-1924) and John Gosling Wilson (1862-1936).   Crowther & Wilson was a hardware and cutlery merchant in Paradise Street, but the partnership was dissolved in 1899.  Crowther bought out his partner and the ‘Crowther & Wilson’ name was dropped.  In 1900, when Wilson registered a silver mark (‘JGW’) as ‘Edmund Bell’ at Reliance Works, Well Meadow Street, Crowther sued him to prevent his use of the ‘Bell’ name (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 29 March 1901).   He lost the case, but Wilson apparently relinquished his claim on the name anyway.  In 1901, Crowther registered a new ‘Edmund Bell’ silver mark (‘E·B’) at Paradise Street.  He had also acquired the name of J. Y. Cowlishaw.  A trade catalogue was published for J.Y. Cowlishaw (‘incorporated with Edmund Bell’), which showed an elegant range of silver and gold fruit knives, ladies chatelaine and manicure knives, smoker’s knives, and cigar cutters.   By the end of the First World War, Crowther had apparently ended his involvement with silver fruit knives.   In 1919, he was listed as merchant and brass founder in Paradise Street, and the Cowlishaw name had been sold.  Crowther died on 15 July 1924, leaving £3,323.