Trade advertisements claimed that this firm was established in 1781, though the name did not appear in directories until the early nineteenth century.  Isaac Ellis was born on 28 January 1902, the son of Ebenezer (a cutler), and his wife, Ann. (Ebenezer may have been the cutler of that name in Garden Street, who was buried in St Peter’s Churchyard on 13 January 1832, aged 57.) In 1837, Isaac was listed as a table knife manufacturer at Norrisfield Works (house Edward Street).  By 1839, he worked and lived with his family in Hollis Croft.  By 1849, he had moved to Garden Street.  In that year he was granted his Freedom by the Company of Cutlers and the ‘PRIMUS’ trade mark.

Isaac Ellis’s career shows how quickly a cutler could succeed in the nineteenth century.  By 1852, Ellis was based in Portland Works on West Street; he then moved to Rockingham Street.  He advertised as a merchant and manufacturer, selling table, pen and pocket cutlery, besides scissors, razors, and later a range of plated goods.  Ellis’s exhibit at the Great Exhibition (1851) received an Honourable Mention.  At that time, he employed 25 men.  By 1860, Isaac had brought his sons – Isaac Milner and Ebenezer – into the firm, which was restyled ‘& Sons’.  Another son, Charles, launched his own business.  Isaac Ellis Sen. died on 3 December 1865, aged 63, at his residence on Glossop Road, and was buried in Ecclesall churchyard.  He left under £6,000. 

Isaac Milner and Ebenezer continued the business, which in 1869 moved to Portland Works, Arundel Street.  Isaac Milner Ellis later withdrew and pursued a career as a share broker, auctioneer, and insurance agent.  He died at his residence Ashville, Montgomery Road, on 24 July 1902, aged 71.  His burial in the General Cemetery was unconsecrated; and he left £567.  Ebenezer continued to run the cutlery firm from Arundel Street, where he resided.  He described himself in the Census (1881) as a table knife manufacturer.  He died on 18 September 1883, aged 60, and was buried in the family grave in Ecclesall cemetery.  His estate was £2,781.

The Arundel Street factory was sold in 1884.  Ellis’s next owners were Charles Franklin Ward and Robert Edward Wharam.  (The latter had been born in Swinton, Yorkshire, and had been a cutlery apprentice in Sheffield.) This partnership ended in 1892, which left Wharam as the director of Primus Works, Bridge Street.  The firm registered silver marks in 1894 and 1897.  In 1914, Isaac Ellis & Sons became a private limited company with £15,000 capital.  William Massey Birks (1868-1950) was a director between about 1914 and 1930.  He managed Henry Birks & Sons, Montreal, which was Canada’s leading jewellery retailer.  This branch of the Birks family emigrated from Wombwell, near Barnsley, and claimed links to a Master Cutler named Birks (see Birks, Withers & Sykes).  The Canadian Birks registered silver marks in Sheffield in 1891 and 1931.  Wharam died on 21 March 1927, aged 63, at Brooklands, Fulwood Road.  He was buried at City Road Cemetery and left £62,916 gross.  Isaac Ellis & Sons was listed in Sheffield directories until 1932, when Edwin Blyde acquired the ‘PRIMUS’ mark.