In the early 1920s, Sheffield directories listed Francis Atkinson (1867-1926) as a commercial traveller.  He had been born at Worksop, the son of a millwright.  By 1891, Francis was living in Sheffield and (according to the Census) working as a ‘manager of factory dept. cutlery works’.   Later he became a commercial traveller in electro-plated goods. 

In the Census (1901) and in directories in the early 1900s, he was enumerated and listed as Frank Atkinson, living at Joshua Road.   A stainless table knife in the Hawley Collection – marked with the name of Oslo-based importer Ingwald Nielsen (1873-1931) – was presumably ordered from Atkinson.  It is marked with his name and the trade mark ‘FRANKO’ (see photograph).  Francis Atkinson, of Southgrove Road, died on 26 February 1926 at the Central Exchange Hotel, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  He was buried at City Road Cemetery in Sheffield in Roman Catholic ground, leaving £2,388.