William Shirley (1833-1914) was the son of Thomas Shirley (d.1841), a grocer in Church Street, and his wife Elizabeth (daughter of Robert Dodge).   William started as a merchant and manufacturer of pen, pocket, and sportsman’s knives, dirks and Bowies in about 1860, when he advertised in a Sheffield directory.   He occupied Crescent Works in Carver Street; and his corporate mark was ‘OIO’.  The timing was not ideal, because of the American Civil War.  Nor did the venture attract favourable comment.  A correspondent (Leeds Mercury, 2 June 1862), discussing the London International Exhibition in 1862, remarked:  ‘W. Shirley show a number of Bowie knives as well as ordinary cutlery.  They are not of the best possible design, some of them having a rather common appearance’.   A more favourable view of Shirley’s productions was expressed in The Sheffield Daily Independent, 15 April 1862.  The journalist remarked that Bowie knives were the firm’s forte.  Its Arkansas toothpicks were of ‘remarkable length; and their deadly aspect conveyed an impression that the tendencies of the society in the South and California, the chief markets for this class of weapons, cannot be very pacific’.  The firm won an ‘honourable mention’ at the London Exhibition (1862) and a medal at the International Exhibition (1870).  

By 1872, Shirley – having moved to Boston Works, Milton Street – was bankrupt with over £10,000 debts.   The business was resurrected and passed to John Shirley (1831-1893), who was William’s elder brother.  John had joined William Booth in a wholesale grocery business, Booth & Shirley.  (John and William Shirley were William Booth’s stepsons, after he had married their widowed mother, Elizabeth, in 1844.)  But Booth died in 1876.  In the following year, John Shirley had debts over £26,000.  The companies were liquidated.  The founder, William, was later supported by the Metals Trades Pension Society.  He died on 4 February 1914, aged 81, and was remembered as an ardent campaigner for the local Conservative Party (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 4 February 1914).  

The name had been acquired by Reuben Clarke, who launched Clarke, Shirley & Co, based in Eyre Lane.   He was born in Sheffield in 1833, the son of Matthew (a grinder) and Charlotte.  Reuben had worked as a table blade grinder, victualler, and builder, before becoming a cutlery manufacturer.  In 1878, he registered an improvement for the boring and drilling of scales, springs, and blades.  In 1882, Reuben acquired the ‘ECLIPSE’ mark of Gilbert Bros, but he continued to use Shirley’s ‘OIO’ mark.   Reuben passed the business to his son, Charles Albert Clarke (1857-1905), so that he could return to his building career.   The family lived in Heeley.  Charles A. Clarke, Thornsett Road, died on 11 December 1905, aged 48, leaving £10,120.   Reuben died on 3 February 1911, aged 77, leaving £2,600.  His tomb is at Norton cemetery.  The firm traded at Eyre Lane as a manufacturer of cutlery, steel, and files, and general merchant until about 1928.  ‘The OIO’ mark was acquired in the twentieth century by Harrison Fisher.