This firm can be traced to J. & G. Morton, cutlers, at 39 Cheapside, London (Flook, 2008).  The partners were Joseph Morton (1801-1866) and George Morton (1803-c.1850s), who were the sons of Joseph Morton (d.1828), a cutler of Falcon Court, Fleet Street, and his wife, Elizabeth.  In 1851, George was living at 39 Cheapside, with his wife Ann and family, and described himself as a master cutler.  George’s partnership with his brother Joseph ended in 1852, but Morton’s continued to trade at Cheapside under George’s son – also named George.  The latter died at Dover on 20 February 1878, aged 44, leaving under £3,000.

George Sen. had another son, named William (his youngest), who by the 1870s was working in Sheffield.  William is elusive in the Census, but in December 1869 he married at the Unitarian Chapel, Norfolk Street, Mary Elizabeth Ragg – the youngest daughter of James Crawshaw Ragg.  In 1874, William Morton acquired the scales trade mark of Anthony Rotheram and became his ‘successor’.  In 1876, a directory listed him at Old Rockingham Works, 175 Rockingham Street, as a maker of table, pen, pocket, and sport’s knives, and razors and scissors.  An unconfirmed report stated that Morton employed 44 workers in 1881.  In 1883, he advertised Heinisch’s’ American tailors’ shears and trimmers, besides Forbes’ ‘ACME’ skates.  However, William suffered several years of failing health and died on 31 May 1889, aged 43, at his residence Greno House, Grenoside.  He was buried in Ecclesall churchyard (Sheffield Independent, 7 June 1889).  He left £15,277.

His sons, George (1875-1943) and William (1875-1932), took over the Rockingham Street business.  In 1898, Morton’s registered a silver mark.  In 1918, the firm acquired Richardson, Adie & Co – an Edinburgh retailer of cutlery, jewellery, clocks, and firearms – which Morton’s operated until 1933.  William Morton died on 20 March 1932, aged 56, at his residence Snaithing Garth, Ranmoor, and was buried in Ecclesall.   He left £6,257.  His brother, George, took over and, like many cutlery managers, did the travelling, whilst his manager – Sidney Ernest Gibbins (1894-1959) – supervised the factory.   George was also a partner in the razor firm Ragg’s.  George Morton, of Bower Cottage, Edale, Hope, died on 27 July 1943, leaving £15,794.   His widow, Gertrude Emily née Senior (1881-1973), continued the firm until the end of the 1960s.   She died at a nursing home at Tunbridge Wells on 22 November 1973, aged 92.  She left £27,063.