An advertisement for this firm had an establishment date of 1696.  It was listed in 1839 as Fenton & Marsden (late Staley), which manufactured joiners’ and edge tools, and skates at Ecclesall Works, Rockingham Street.  One of the partners was Henry Fenton, who died on 28 April 1840 (aged 52),and was buried at the parish church.  He had been with Gainsford, Fenton & Nicholson.  The other partner was George Marsden, who was then joined by his brother Robert and Samuel Coward Silverwood.  The Marsdens had been born in Dore.  Marsden Bros & Silverwood traded in skates from Bridge Street Works, Love Street, but it also factored tools and cutlery (including table knives, pocket knives, scissors, and razors).  It won a Prize Medal at the Great Exhibition (1851), when the firm employed 80 workers.  Silverwood withdrew in 1854 and Marsden Bros & Co was formed.  Silverwood, an accountant, died at Swithen, near Barnsley, on 4 May 1865, aged 39.   He left under £1,000.  

The brothers’ partnership ended with the death of George Marsden, MacKenzie Place, on 9 February 1867, aged 57.  He left under £1,500.  (His son was George Raynor Marsden.  Robert continued the business, which employed 60 men in 1861 and 72 in 1871.   His son – Robert Wood Marsden – became a partner, but he predeceased his father on 4 June 1876, aged 30, leaving under £1,500.   Robert Marsden Sen., Fulwood Road, died (aged 66) on 23 February 1878.  He left under £14,000 and was buried (like the other Marsdens) in the General Cemetery.   The controlling interest apparently passed to Robert’s wife, Frances.  Edward D. Colquhoun was associated with the firm.  However, in 1881 the stock of Bridge Street Works was auctioned (Sheffield Independent, 4 June 1881).  By 1890, the sole partner was Wallace Foster Marsden (1868-1913) – the son of Robert W. Marsden.   W. F. Marsden had begun business in 1889 on his own account with a capital of £1,000.  He took William Lloyd into partnership under the style Marsden Bros & Lloyd.   Lloyd also put £1,000 into the enterprise, but apparently half of that was borrowed from Marsden.  In 1893, they registered a silver mark from Bridge Street Works.  However, by 1895 the partnership was bankrupt, leaving Marsden to pay off the debts.  By 1900, W. F. Marsden still had debts over £1,000 and became a commercial traveller, though he later worked as a ship’s purser.  He died in West Kirkby, Cheshire, on 11 April 1913, leaving £599 to his widow.

In 1895, the Marsden Bros name was acquired by John Wilson, a small edge tool manufacturer, who claimed to supply ice skates to the Royal Family.  The Foreign Buyers’ Catalogue (1895) carried an advertisement for ‘John Wilson, Marsden Bros & Co’, Portland Works, West Street.   It sold a wide range of tools and cutlery (and Marsden’s traditional skates).  In 1901, ownership passed to Rowland Haynes and Henry James Haynes, Portland Works, Trafalgar Street.  In 1901, the assets were acquired by Robert Sorby & Sons, a manufacturer of wood-working tools.   Marsden Bros’ best known mark was a greyhound.  It had originally been owned by a man named Smith in 1835 and was used by Marsden Bros on butchers’ knives, tools, and cutlery.  Joseph Mills was once fined £1 plus costs for copying the mark (Sheffield Independent, 2 July 1890).