Frank Fidler was born in Sheffield in 1854, the son of Jasper Fidler (1815-1887) and his wife, Eliza née Bird.  His father was a monumental mason – a trade followed by Frank, who in the Census (1881) was an ‘artist in stone’ and ‘sculptor’.  However, in the Sheffield directory in the same year he was a photographer, living on the London Road.  By the mid-1880s, he was residing at Meersbrook and had filed a patent for an ‘improvement’ in locks and latches.  In 1887, he was listed in the local directory as a pickle fork manufacturer at 124 Randall Street.  In the following year, he registered a silver mark (‘FF’) at the Assay Office.  By 1891, he had relocated to Advance Works, Denby Street.  In 1892, he registered a patent for an improvement in spoons and sifters.  Surviving examples of Fidler’s work include ‘Perfection Patent’ mechanical olive and pickle tongs, in which the servers were worked by a spring and push button in the handle end.  He also made electro-plate fish and asparagus servers and grape snips.  

In 1881, Fidler had travelled to the USA, with his wife, Maria.  Their daughter, Violet, would be born in Philadelphia during their stay.  Fidler publicised his products widely.  In 1889, he exhibited at the Paris Exhibition (Sheffield Independent, 17 June 1889).   In 1891, he was in Jamaica at another exhibition, when he was complimented for upholding the ‘name and fame of Sheffield in that torrid region’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 26 March 1891).  Other publicity was less helpful.  He had dismissed a man for unpunctuality, who then successfully sued for unfair dismissal.  Fidler was then castigated by the judge for having ‘no moral sense’, because he had later given the individual an ‘excellent character’ reference (Sheffield Independent, 1, 6 May 1891).

In 1893, F. Fidler & Co Ltd, a manufacturing silversmith, was registered as a private limited company at Advance Works.  Capital was £3,000, though apparently only half of that was paid up.  Within a year, Filder was insolvent with £873 liabilities.  Fidler claimed that he had assets of £35, but at the bankruptcy hearing it was judged that ‘in truth there was not sixpence’ (Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 17 April 1894).  Filder had apparently started another job as a manager.   In 1901, he was still living in Sheffield with Maria and Violet, at the house of his brother-in-law.  In 1905, Violet (an ‘artist’) voyaged to New York; and two years later Maria sailed for Philadelphia.  She stated that she was married, but was apparently travelling alone.  She may have died in Sheffield in 1931.  Frank’s subsequent life, though, has not been traced.