Ernest Cyril Cockbill (1894-1972) was born in Sheffield.  He was the second son of Arthur Ernest Cockbill (an accountant, born in Oxford) and his wife Kate, who was a silver chaser and designer.  Ernest was trained as a share broker’s clerk.  By 1919, he was company secretary at Philip Ashberry & Sons.  In the 1920s, he apparently helped run the business with three Ashberry spinsters.  Their names appeared on patents relating to products, such as teapots.  After the Second World War, Cockbill operated as a cutlery manufacturer from Emu Works, Eyre Street.  The Ironmonger Diary (1951) depicted the firm’s cased cutlery canteens of knives, carvers, spoons, and forks.  The firm was last listed in the 1950s.