Born in Sheffield in 1942, Brian Alcock left school at 15 and was apprenticed to his father, who had charge of the grinding shop at George Barnsley & Sons.   In about 1961, Brian rented a ‘trow’ (a grinding trough) at Sylvester Works of Joseph Elliot.  After four years, he moved to Richard Mather in Shoreham Street.

In the 1970s, he worked in the Loxley Valley at a refractories firm, but in 1979 returned to grinding at the Beehive Works of Gregory Fenton, Milton Street.  In 1993, he was filmed at work with his brother, Tom, for the Ruskin Gallery’s ‘Masters of Metalworking Series’.  They were involved in jobbing work – in other words, grinding tools and knife blades for other Sheffield firms and ‘little mesters’.  The film gave ample demonstration of the skill and labour involved in grinding.

Eventually, Brian became virtually the last of Sheffield’s ‘little mester’ grinders and, approporiately, became a local celebrity.  In 2013, his impending retirement inspired artist Anthony Bennett to commemorate his career with a Millennium Gallery exhibition of sculptures.  Composed appropriately of wheelswarf, these sculptures included a bust of Brian.  However, he never retired completely and in 2022, aged 80, he was still working at Milton Street.  He died in the following year on 30 May 2023.  A funeral service was held at City Road Crematorium on 19 June 2023.