Scottish-born James Christie (c.1855-1935) was a photographic materials dealer in West Street since at least 1891.  James Christie & Sons Ltd was incorporated in 1914 (with a share capital of £5,000) at 246 West Street (and Pitt Street).   The sons were Colin and Gordon Christie.  The firm was a manufacturer and dealer in surgical appliances, scientific apparatus, and photographic equipment.   The manufacture of rubber, tapping, and pruning knives was also launched by Colin, who had been alerted in 1910 by Harold W. Belcher (who operated a boxwood rule business) to the demand from Malaya for rubber tapping knives.   Production began with four employees, with a trade mark of two taps (picture).

As the trade in rubber plantation knives flourished (alongside the photographic business), Christie’s expanded into stainless steel fittings (such as butchers’ rails).  In 1927, Christie’s acquired Stainless Requisites and moved into the former gramophone factory of J. G. Graves in Gell Street.  James Christie, Millhouses Lane, died, aged 80, on 4 October 1935.  He left £4,703 and was buried in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.   On 14 February 1943, Colin Christie died suddenly, leaving £7,542.  His widow became a director, alongside Belcher.   Orders for tapping knives continued; so, too, did those for stainless steel fittings for shops.  In 1955, the firm moved into Christie Works – a £15,000 factory on the site of the old Norton Hammer Dam, Little London Road (Sheffield Telegraph, 20 September 1955).   The firm later became part of Woodhead Components Ltd (which also acquired Ibbotson Bros).