Thomas Glossop (1853-1940) was born in Sheffield, the son of Albert Glossop (c.1827-1909) and his first wife (Betsy) Elizabeth. Albert was a ‘master’ razor scale presser. The year 1829 would be cited as an establishment date for the family business. The originator was apparently Joseph Glossop, a razor scale presser, who was Albert’s father. Apart from a fleeting entry in the Sheffield directory (1825) at Green Lane, Joseph never appeared in directories. In the Census (1841), he was living with his family (including wife, Sarah, and Albert) in George Street. He died at Jessop Lane on 24 September 1855, aged 69. According to The Sheffield Independent, 29 September 1855: ‘Glossop left work at five o’clock on Monday afternoon in his usual health, and after looking at the balloon, which passed over the town, he had supper and retired to rest. He son went to his bedroom ten minutes afterwards, and found him lying across the bed. He was dead. Verdict. Apoplexy’. He was buried at St Mary’s, Bramall.

By 1860, Albert was listed in directories as a horn presser in Sylvester Lane; then later in Cambridge Street.  In 1881, he employed four men. Thomas had followed him into the trade and by 1881 had a workforce of five men and two boys at St Mary’s Road. By 1900, he was listed at St Mary’s Road as a razor scale manufacturer and horn and waste dealer; but after 1897, he also operated a retail outlet in Norfolk Market Hall.  By 1905, besides this shop, Thomas had moved from St Mary’s Road to a small factory in Harmer Lane. His home was Pattsybrooke, Brinkburn Vale Road, in Totley. Albert Glossop, Causeway Head Farm, died on 23 March 1909, aged 82, and was buried in the General Cemetery.

Thomas Glossop gradually lost his sight and according to press reports was blind by the end of the First World War. By 1918, Thomas’s sons by his wife Mary Walton Rodgers – William ‘Willie’ Walton Glossop (1880-1957) and Thomas Albert Glossop (1882-1947) – had joined the business. Another son, Arthur Austin Glossop (1894-1964), became a radio engineer. Eventually, the family concentrated its cutlery business at Norfolk Market Hall (where Arthur also sold radio sets). In the 1930s, Glossop’s cutlery stall had a display of various cutlery ‘curios’, such as a 130-year-old knife containing 18 articles, a knife with 35 blades, and razors smaller than a threepenny piece. The firm sold table cutlery, pocket knives, and razors, dolls and toys, and supplied sporting trophies to clubs. Its trade marks included ‘KNO-KUT’ on its patent safety razors (straight razors with a guard); and ‘VENTURE’ on pocket knives and traditional razors. (‘VENTURE’ was earlier owned by Slater Bros,)   

Thomas Glossop’s passions were horticulture and cricket (Sheffield Daily Independent, 4 September 1929). According to one report, he rose as early as 3.00 a.m. in the morning to rush through his work so that he could later watch cricket matches (Sheffield Telegraph & Daily Independent, 18 January 1939). Thomas befriended the touring Australian cricket team. The Sheffield Daily Independent, 13 November 1934, told its readers:

The Australian cricketers always pay a visit to this firm … a custom which dates back 35 years, when Hugh Trumble, Monty Noble, and Victor Trumper were among their visitors, the latter signing a bat which is still greatly treasured. These Australian visitors always take back to the Commonwealth some of the firm’s wares …

Thomas Glossop died on 25 May 1940, leaving £2,534. His burial was at Church Church, Dore, where there is a headstone. His son, Thomas Albert, died on 30 October 1947 at Norfolk Market Hall, leaving £4,853. William Walton Glossop operated the business after the War. He died at his home in Grove Road, Totley Rise, on 21 October 1957, aged 77. His obituary described him as one of ‘Sheffield’s most colourful cricketing personalities’, who had worked in Norfolk Market Hall for nearly sixty years (Sheffield Telegraph, 23 October 1957). The funeral was at Totley Rise Methodist Church. He left £14,360. His son, William ‘Billy’ Alfred Duncan Glossop (1924-2019), took over the firm (which was incorporated in 1959). He was the last family member in the business, which traded until the firm was dissolved in 1992.

Totley History Group has a ‘cricketing’ profile of Thomas Glossop:
http://www.totleyhistorygroup.org.uk/people-of-interest/thomas-glossop/