A Sheffield directory (1856) carried an advertisement for Robert Bateman as a manufacturer in Smithfield of ‘Genuine Fish Hook Knives and of All Kinds of Spring Knives.  A Supply of Spanish and Portuguese Cutlery made of Best Materials Always on Hand’.   An unconfirmed report has a foundation date of 1739.  Possibly the originator of the enterprise was Ralph Bateman (trade mark ‘ROD’), who was listed as a pen knife manufacturer in Wadsley in 1787.   

Robert Bateman was baptised in Ecclesfield on 13 February 1825, the son of Ralph (a cutler), and his wife, Elizabeth.   According to the 1841 Census, Ralph was working as a pocket-knife manufacturer in Commonside, Wadsley.   He was buried in Wadsley, aged 77, in May 1854.   By then, his son Robert was employing two men and an apprentice in Commonside, manufacturing pocket knives.  His knives sold for 3s 6d [17p] per dozen net and were popular enough to be imitated by a cheaper German article.  Bateman then moved to Sheffield, where he combined the manufacture of fish hook knives with managing The Don Inn on Penistone Road (a pub that opened in about 1830 and closed in the 1960s).   In 1876, he advertised again as a manufacturer of fish hook knives and ‘Continental and American Cutlery’.  His trade marks were ‘ROD’ and a picture of a fish hook.   By 1881, Bateman employed six men.  He moved briefly to Globe Works, but by 1891 had retired to Upperthorpe.   He died, aged 75, on 25 May 1900 and was buried in Wadsley (where his wife, Mary Ann, had been buried in the previous year).  His estate included dwelling houses, workshops, and land in Coalpit Lane, Commonside.  His effects were valued at £2,664.  Bateman’s fish hook mark was acquired by Hale Bros.