John Blake / Thomas Blake
The Blake family came from Wath, near Rotherham, and moved to Sheffield in the late eighteenth century. By 1787, Thomas Blake Sen. had founded a file making business, but his sons – John and Thomas – later became merchants. John Blake (1783-1832) was Master Cutler in 1831. He laid the cornerstone of the new Cutlers’ Hall in June 1832, but within ten weeks succumbed to the cholera epidemic that swept Sheffield. He died after only a few hours’ illness at Port Mahon on 30 August 1....
