John Kirk (1820-1889) was the son of John Kirk (a table knife manufacturer) and his wife, Mary. By 1845, father and son were partners in John Kirk & Son in Whitecroft. In 1849, the business was based at 4 Rockingham Street. But John Kirk Sen. died in that year, aged 66, and was buried at St George’s churchyard, Portobello. His son continued to trade and live in Rockingham Street. He was married twice: first, in 1840 to Mary Ann Warren (died 1850); and second, in 1851 to Emma Wragg (c.1824-1884), who in the Census of that year was a grocer in adjacent Broad Lane.  He had several children from these marriages, including sons Henry (1848-1916), John (1847-1877), Albert (1849-1928), and Arthur (1854-1896).

On 29 July 1857 a fire at Kirk’s premises caused nearly £400 damage. Later that year, Kirk became insolvent, with £2,000 debts against assets of £700.  The business was restarted and by the 1860s John Kirk was a table and spring cutlery manufacturer at America Works, Rockingham Street. He advertised in the Sheffield directory (1860). Kirk was again bankrupt in 1867. He then resurrected the business at Batavia Works, Townhead Street. John’s son, Henry, joined the enterprise. By 1881, John Kirk and his family lived at Clarkson Street. The household included John Edward Kirk and Percy Kirk, who were brothers and described as John Kirk’s grandsons. They may have been the sons of John Kirk, who was described as a ‘manufacturer’ when he died at St Stephen’s Road on 14 November 1877. His burial was at the General Cemetery.

Another fire hit Kirk’s factory in 1881, when the local press described the layout of Batavia Works (Sheffield Independent, 15 December 1881).  The offices and warehouse faced Townhead Street, with two blocks of three-storied workshops at the rear, and connected by a wooden box to protect the [driving] band.  The workshops were used for the manufacture of butcher and table knives. India and South America were apparently the firm’s major export markets. Kirk’s trade marks were a mermaid (picture) and the word ‘PEACE’, granted 1783.  (The mermaid mark was later used by Edwin Herriott)  In 1878, Kirk had been fined £20 for infringing the horse’s head mark of George Deakin. In 1887 he was sued by John Copley & Sons, because (it was alleged) Kirk’s use of a ‘KK’ mark imitated Copley’s ‘XX’. A report of the court case filled three columns in the local newspaper. John Kirk denied any attempt to deceive. He claimed only a limited role in the business as sole partner:  ‘I have very little interest in it now. I worked for 60 years and thought that I might take a little ease now’ (Sheffield Independent, 20 December 1887). The magistrate gave him the benefit of the doubt and the case was dismissed.

On Thursday evening 10 October 1889, John Kirk visited one of his outworkers at John Street. When leaving the premises in the dark, Kirk slipped and fell down a short flight of wooden steps. He was taken home unconscious with a serious head injury, but died at Peel Terrace, Wilkinson Street, on the Monday 14 October. He was aged 69. An inquest jury reached a verdict of ‘accidental death’, and recommended that a handrail and better lighting should be provided (Evening Telegraph & Star, 17 October 1889).  Kirk was buried in the consecrated section of the General Cemetery, leaving a personal estate of £4,662.  

John’s sons – Henry, Albert, and Arthur – continued to run the Townhead Street business. However, their partnership was dissolved in 1892. The stock of table, dessert, dagger, and butcher knives was offered for sale, alongside three tons of table and pocket-knife blade steel (Sheffield Independent, 15 February 1892).  Albert continued to trade alone at Batavia Works, but another fire broke out in 1899.  It was confined to a single workshop and was soon extinguished. The building was not apparently insured (Yorkshire Telegraph & Star, 24 June 1899). Within a year, an even worse fire gutted two floors of the building (Sheffield Independent, 14 April 1900).  In 1901, Batavia Works was offered for sale or to let.  Albert ceased trading and became a cutlery manager.