John Ryalls (1828-1890) was the son of Jasper Ryalls (a cutler and sometimes grocer and flour dealer in Little Sheffield) and his wife, Mary.  Jasper died on 1 January 1834, aged 45, after a ‘long indisposition’. His son made spring knives in Little Sheffield and started business in 1851. By 1871, he had remarried and moved to Lane End, Ecclesall, where he employed eight men. By 1876, he was at Brunswick Works, Eldon Street. By 1881, he employed 35 men. John died on 11 August 1890, aged 61, at Carfield Mount, Meersbrook. He was buried (like his father) at Ecclesall, leaving £1,935.

John Ryalls’ sons – William Henry Ryalls (1851-1929) and Maurice Harry Ryalls (1861-1924) – continued to run the business as John Ryalls & Sons. It remained at Brunswick Works as a maker (or factor) of pocket cutlery, sportsman’s knives, razors, and electro-plated spoons and forks.  By 1911, the partners were apparently William Henry Ryalls and his son, John. The business closed in 1916, when John Ryalls started another cutlery enterprise, Ryalls, Turner as the old company’s ‘successor’.

After Maurice Harry left the family firm, he worked (according to the Census in 1911) as a cutlery manager, as did one of his sons, Bertram. The family lived at Upper Valley Road, Meersbrook. It included Maurice’s wife, Malvina Lavinia née Bletcher (d. 1945), their daughter Ethel, and their other sons: Maurice Edgar (a window cleaner),  Harry (an electrical wire man on the railways), and Ernest (a printer’s assistant).  At the outbreak of the First World War, Bertram, Harry, and Ernest enlisted (describing themselves as cutlers). In 1915, Ernest was wounded and featured in a list of ‘Heroes’ published in The Sheffield Independent, 20 May 1915.  He recovered, but his brothers Bertram and Harry were not so fortunate. Bertram was killed in action in France in 1915; and in the same year Harry died from his wounds after returning to Sheffield.  He was buried at Norton Cemetery.

By 1916, Maurice Harry was working independently as a spring knife maker at Murray Works, Sidney Street. This factory was owned by cutlery manufacturer E. M. Dickinson, so presumably Maurice rented space there as a little mester, and may have made knives for Dickinson’s.  Maurice was listed in directories in 1919 and 1922. However, he died in 1924, aged 63, and was buried in unconsecrated ground in Norton Cemetery.  That was apparently the end of the family firm. Maurice Edgar continued as a window cleaner. In 1939, Ernest was working as a cellulose maker.