Thomas Couch’s first appearance in a Sheffield directory was in 1841 as a fine scissors manufacturer at 4 Devonshire Lane.  He was living in adjacent Rockingham Street, with his wife Annis née Hall.  They had married in 1847, but she died later that year, aged 35 (her burial was at St George’s, Portobello).  Thomas remarried (to Emma) and continued to live and work at Rockingham Street, where he also had his workshop.   In 1852, he was a scissors manufacturer at Union Lane and living at Earl Street.  In the 1850s, his address in directories was Fitzwilliam Street, with his house in Cemetery Road.  Couch was probably a ‘little mester’, with only a handful of workers.  He seems to have died in obscurity at Milton Street on 29 March 1862, aged 53.  He was buried in a communal unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.