The entrepreneurial Blyde family was active in the scissors, surgical instrument, and pocket-knife trades by the mid-nineteenth century. The key figure was James Blyde (1804-1888). He was apparently born on 23 September 1804, the son of James (a scissors smith) and his wife, Sarah. In 1841, he was listed as a 35-year-old scissors manufacturer in Broomhall Street. His sons included Edwin, James, John, and William. His eldest daughter was Sarah Ellison Blyde, who briefly partnered her brothers. By 1849, James Blyde was based in Lambert Street and lived on Ecclesall Road.
In 1851, the firm was restyled James Blyde & Son and relocated to Norfolk Lane. The next address was Lambert Street in 1856, though in the following year James and his son, John, split. By 1860, John Blyde was in Norfolk Lane. James and James Jun. were trading as James Blyde & Son at Hallcar Street. They sold scissors, nippers, and surgical instruments, with the trade mark ‘WELL FINISHED’. By 1864, James Blyde operated alone at Hallcar Street. In the 1870s, the founder retired and (according to the 1871 Census) was living on the interest from his investments. His daughter, Sarah, had sued him successfully for £5, after she had looked after her mother for a few weeks following a marital dispute (Sheffield Independent, 11 April 1867). James died in Byron Road, Nether Edge, on 7 September 1882, aged 79. His burial (unconsecrated) was in the General Cemetery. He left £1,990.
His son, James, was listed in directories as a steel toy manufacturer; and in the Census (1871) as a pliers manufacturer, employing five men and two boys. A four-page advertisement featured Hall Car Works, Spital Hill, in The Ironmonger in October 1878. By 1881, James was living at Cliffe Villa, Barnsley Road, and had retired. But ‘time hung too heavily on his hands’ and he became a steel traveller in Birmingham (Sheffield Independent, 10 January 1888). He died there on 7 January 1888, aged 58, and was buried in Pitsmoor cemetery. He left £1,083. James Jun.’s son, James Henry Blyde (1858-1932), continued making steel toys and pliers in Rutland Road. He partnered Percy Smith, who in the Census (1881) was a manufacturer of pliers, tin openers, and ‘every description of toys’, employing 31 men and four boys. The Blyde and Smith partnership ended in 1885, when the business was offered for sale (Sheffield Independent, 4 August, 22 September 1885). James Blyde & Co, though, remained in Rutland Road until 1919, when James Henry retired in favour of his son, Harry Percy Blyde (1888-1941). Within a year or so, the firm ceased trading. James Henry Blyde died on 11 July 1932, aged 73. He was buried in Burngreave cemetery, leaving £13,249.