Table knife manufacturer William Howe was apparently baptised in Sheffield on 25 January 1792, the son of William (a grinder) and Ellen.  He worked and lived at Hollis Croft, where he appeared in 1822 in the local  directory.  The  Census (1841) enumerated Howe at Hollis Croft with a large family, which included his wife, Mary, and two sons, William and Henry.  The firm placed a modest advertisement for its table knives in the directory of 1849.  Howe employed 15 men in 1851.  William Howe Sen., table knife manufacturer, Hollis Croft, died (aged 62) on 6 June 1854 and was buried in St Paul’s churchyard.  His wife, Mary, had died in 1851.  

His son, William (1823-1897), assumed control.  In 1861, he lived at Alpha Cottage, Barber Road, but by 1871 had retired and was living on his income in a comfortable sandstone house at 11 Nether Edge.  Henry operated the firm in the 1870s, but by 1881 (when he was 43) he, too, had retired.  William Howe Jun., Nether Edge Road, died on 8 February 1897, aged 74, and was buried in an unconsecrated grave in the General Cemetery.  He left £26,670.  For many years, a plaque could be seen on the frontage of a small, derelict works towards the top of Hollis Croft: ‘Industry Place.  Erected by W. & M. Howe 1833’.   That plaque has been preserved in the frontage of a block of modern apartments.