Advertisement from 1871. Image courtesy of Geoff Tweedale
William Fletcher (1844-1918) was born in Everton, Nottinghamshire. He was the son of James Fletcher – a draper and grocer – and his wife Eleanor. In 1861, the family was living in East Retford, where James employed four men and a female. William was an ironmonger’s apprentice. When William moved to Sheffield is unknown, but about 1870 he partnered Joseph Thorpe. By 1871, Fletcher was running the business himself and advertised in the local directory. He continued to operate from Paradise Street until at least 1879, when he lived at Sutton Cottages, Winter Street. Fletcher’s business activities then seem to have lapsed (though he remained involved in the table cutlery trade). In the Census (1911), he was a ‘cutler’, living in Roach Road. He may have been the William Fletcher, ‘cutlery manufacturer’, 42 Crofts Buildings, Campo Lane, who was buried in Burngreave Cemetery on 11 May 1918, aged 74.