The partners were William Bingham (1833-1907) and William Ogden.  The former was the son of a cutler, Thomas, and his wife, Elizabeth née Mitchell.  In 1851, he was an apprentice cutler, living with George Wright in Norfolk Lane.  William Ogden may have been born in 1830, the son of William (a grinder) and his wife, Elizabeth.  In 1858, the two Williams combined as pen and pocket knife manufacturers.  After occupying Devonport Works, Rockingham Street, they operated from Select Works, Rockingham Street – a small factory, which partly still stands.  Ogden was enumerated in the Census (1861) as a pen knife cutler, but his name had disappeared from directories by the late 1860s and he relinquished his interest in the firm.  Bingham continued to trade under the original name.

The firm’s ‘SELECT’ and arrow trade mark became sufficiently well known for Bingham to place a notice, warning against infringement (Sheffield Independent, 7 February 1874).   By 1871, Bingham employed sixteen workers (a dozen men, two boys, and two girls); by 1881, that figure was twenty (fifteen men, two women, and three boys).  He retired in about 1893 in favour of his son, Thomas Mitchell Bingham (1862-1938).  The firm was located in Button Lane by the turn of the century.  William Bingham died from bronchitis on 11 May 1907, aged 74, at his home at 45 Wostenholm Road.  According to an obituarist, he was a ‘self-made’ man and a Methodist.  He was buried in the General Cemetery.  His son, Thomas, was apparently still running the business, but sold it to Ford & Medley, which operated from Emu Works, Eyre Street (which became Bingham & Ogden’s address until 1938).