The founder, William Charlton (1882-1951) was the son of John Henry Charlton (1851-1893) and his wife Fanny Beatson.  After his father’s premature death, William trained as a silversmith.  In 1901, he was living with his widowed mother in Bath Street.  He started his own silversmith business in about 1921 and his first working address was Club Gardens Walk.  In the Register of England & Wales (1939), he was described as a ‘skilled general silversmith’, residing at Sharrow Vale Road.  By the late 1940s, he occupied Balmoral Works, Matilda Street.  He collapsed and died at his home in Sharrow Vale Road on 29 December 1951, aged 69.  He was fond of billiards and snooker and his obituary was headed: ‘Billiards Men Lose Officer’ (Sheffield Telegraph, 31 December 1951).  He was buried in the General Cemetery.  He left £671.  W. Charlton (apparently the same firm) was listed in River Lane during the 1960s and 1970s, but was defunct by 1981.