The partners were Samuel Hardy (1810-1874) and Thomas Pagan Lowe (1810-?).  Hardy had been born in Sheffield on 21 March , the son of Robert (a cutler) and his wife, Hannah.  Lowe was born in London on 21 June 1810, with his birthplace written in a Nonconformist register as Bartholomew Close, St Bartholomew the Great.  His parents were Joshua Lowe and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Pagan.  

By 1838, Thomas P. Lowe was in Sheffield and working as a bookkeeper, when he married Miss Martha Cheetham.  By 1841, they lived at Carver Street.  Lowe described his occupation as ‘cutler’.  Samuel Hardy was variously a pawnbroker, toy dealer, and cutler, who lived at Fargate, with his wife (also named Martha).  Lowe had registered a silver mark ‘TPL’ in 1840 as a plate worker at Charles Street.  In the following year, Hardy, Lowe & Co was listed at 92 Carver Street as a plater on steel and German silver by the new process and manufacturer of plated silver dessert and fruit knives, and table, pen, and pocket knives.  Presumably, the ‘new process’ was a reference to Elkington’s technique of electro-plating.  

In 1842, however, Samuel Hardy filed for insolvency and the partnership was dissolved.   Lowe apparently left Sheffield, and his later career and death are untraced.  Hardy subsequently became, in turn, a traveller, warehouseman, manager, and agent for Linley, Cutts & Co.  By 1868, Hardy was a merchant and manufacturer again, who marketed table, butchers’, spear, hunting and spring knives at 103 Rockingham Lane.  By 1871, he was trading at 62 Carver Street and living at Broom Close, London Road.   Samuel Hardy died at Lansdowne Road on 22 November 1874, aged 64.  His burial was at the General Cemetery.  His estate was valued at under £600.