In 1833, Richard & Thomas Otley was listed as a Britannia metal merchant, Union Place.  The partners were apparently brothers.  In 1837, the firm’s address was Truro Place, Trafalgar Street, but in the following year it was bankrupt.  Richard – who had been born in Doncaster on 20 December 1795 – was then listed as a tea dealer and tobacconist in South Street, while Thomas Otley (1807-1883) continued as a metal smith, living in Milton Street.  According to a trade advertisement, Thomas founded his firm in 1842.  In that year, Richard, who was a prominent Chartist, had been arrested for ‘conspiracy’.  By 1849, Thomas Otley & Co was manufacturing Britannia metal products in Lambert Place, Lambert Street.  Richard must have still been involved, because in 1853 he and Thomas were again insolvent.  But the firm continued to trade in Lambert Street until the early 1860s, when Thomas resided in Talbot Street.  Some of Otley’s products, such as spoons, were now electro-plated.  The company trade marks included a Chinaman (and teapot) on Britannia ware and ‘BENVENUTO CELLINI’ on electro-plate.

By 1865, the firm had moved to Meadow Works, Meadow Street.  In 1868, Thomas Otley advertised in a Sheffield directory, with an engraving showing a two-storey works with courtyard.  Its products in electro-plated nickel silver and Britannia metal were marketed in Paris, where the firm had an agent (E. Vitry, Boulevard Beaumarchais).  Meanwhile, Richard had continued a career as a tea dealer, tobacconist, and bookseller, but was declared bankrupt again in 1857.  He had also continued his involvement in local politics.  He died on 24 March 1870 and was given a dissenter’s burial in Burngreave cemetery, with Thomas purchasing the burial plot.  The register described Richard as a chemist.

Thomas’s business expanded rapidly from 22 workers in 1861 to 112 in 1871 (over half were women and girls).  In 1871, the firm was restyled ‘& Sons’.  Thomas Otley had married Ann (c.1811-1863), the daughter of Jeremiah Sellars of Pitsmoor, who was coal agent to the Earl Fitzwilliam.  Thomas and Ann had four sons: William Sellars Otley (1840-1897), Thomas Stones Otley (1844-1906), John Otley (1850-1927), and Benjamin Cowlishaw Otley (1849-1899).  In 1879, a silver mark was registered.  By 1881, Otley’s employed about 150 workers.

Thomas died on 4 December 1883, aged 76, and was also buried in Burngreave.  He left £2,271.  Thereafter the management of the company and its fortunes fluctuated.  William Sellars Otley had retired by 1891.  He lived in Crescent Road, Sharrow, and died on 7 January 1897, aged 56.  He was buried in the General Cemetery.  John Otley became a chemist and druggist (though he later returned to the business temporarily).  Thomas S. Otley and Benjamin C. Otley had charge of the firm.  They had both married daughters of Charles Woollen, a Sheffield ironmonger.  Otley’s evidently encountered financial problems after William Sellars’ retirement.  In 1893, the leasehold of Meadow Works, its stock-in-trade, working tools, and trade marks were offered for sale.

The Works are conveniently arranged, and comprise Office, Show Room, Warehouses, and Packing Room, and Stamping, Fluting, Spinning, Casting, Melting, Boiling, Buffing, and other Shops, and are particularly suitable for the Electro-plate and Britannia Metal, or any of the Light Sheffield Trades (Sheffield Independent, 4 March 1893).

Perhaps no purchasers appeared, because Thomas Otley & Sons continued to trade at Meadow Works.  Benjamin C. Otley, School Road, died on 7 April 1899 from heart disease, after contracting a chill when travelling in Ireland.  He was aged 51.  Thomas S. and John continued as partners and in 1900 registered Thomas Otley & Sons as a limited company.  It was capitalised at £5,000.  By 1905, when the firm was still listed at Meadow Works, Meadow Street, John had apparently left the business.  In the following year, Thomas Stones Otley died, aged 63.  This did not extinguish Thomas Otley & Sons, because by 1911 it had reappeared in Eyre Lane.  The senior partner was (Charles) William Sellars Otley (1869-1959), who was the son of Thomas Stones Otley.  Thomas Stones Otley (1880-1968), a traveller and son of Benjamin C. Otley, may also have worked for the firm.  In 1912, the firm was struck off the register of limited companies, but it survived the war and in 1919 Thomas Otley & Sons was listed as a Britannia metal manufacturer at Meadow Works, Howard Street.  In 1925, William Sellars Otley announced that the company was insolvent.  It remained listed until the start of the 1930s, when it became defunct.