George Gill was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, in about 1826.  In 1848, he established an enterprise for manufacturing scissors in Lambert Place, Lambert Street (where Gill lived at No.  39).  In 1851, the workforce was eighteen hands (ten in 1861).  Gill died at his residence in St Philip’s Road on 23 November 1870 (aged 44) and was buried in Burngreave Cemetery.   He left under £2.000.  In 1871, George Gill was still listed as a maker of fine scissors and tailors’ shears in Lambert Street.  His seventeen-year-old son Frederick (1853-1894) had started to learn how to manage the business under the oversight of his mother, Sarah.  They lived in Lower St Philip’s Road.  By 1879, the works address was Norbury Works, Lambert Street, which was apparently a three-storied tenement block (Machan, 1999¹).  The product line now included American shears, horse-clipping, and pruning-flowers scissors.   Advertisements appeared in the directories for 1879 and 1883.  In 1881, Frederick employed 25 men and ten women.  Frederick Gill, Norbury House, Hillsborough, Ecclesfield, died on 7 December 1894, aged 41.   He left £3,126 to his wife Elizabeth.  In 1901, the assets of the business were sold.  Norbury Works was absorbed by John Watts and the name disappeared after 1907.

^1. Machan, Peter, ‘John Watts, Lambert Street: A Surviving Sheffield Firm with over 200 Years’ History’, in Melvyn Jones (ed), Aspects of Sheffield 2 (Barnsley, 1999)