John Henry Froggatt (1875-1952) was born in Sheffield to James Henry Froggatt (a general labourer and later clerk) and Annie Elizabeth Traviss. In 1896, John Henry – a warehouseman – married Nellie Wiggett, the daughter of an engineer and tool maker. Before the War, J. H. Froggatt was working as a machine knife manager and living at Hillsborough.

In 1921, Froggatt joined forces with Arthur F. Ledger, a motor engineer, to establish Froggatt & Ledger Ltd.  Capitalised at £10,000, this private company was formed to carry on the business of cutlery and steel manufacture, forging, engineering, working in silver and other metals, and repairing tricycles (Sheffield Daily Independent, 14 May 1921). In the following year, Froggatt & Ledger was listed in a directory as cutlery forgers, Montrose Works, Harwood Street. Meanwhile, J. H. Froggatt & Sons had been launched as a cutlery manufacturer at The Moor in Sheffield. It seems that Froggatt’s business was intended as a retail outlet, which marketed output from Montrose Works. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines displayed Froggatt canteens of ‘Sheffield’s Finest Stainless Cutlery and Silver Plate’.  The knives were guaranteed to be stainless, hand-ground, and fitted with ivorine handles (Sunday Illustrated, 14 August 1921).

In 1922, Froggatt and Ledger disposed of the engineering side of the business and announced that they were retaining only the cutlery forging department (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 2 September 1922). However, by the end of 1922 the Froggatt and Ledger interests had been liquidated and the plant at Harwood Street sold.  The Census (1939) showed that John Henry Froggatt had returned to his former job of machine knife manager.  He died at Wortley in 1952, aged 76.