Trade advertisements stated that this company started in 1800 (supposedly).  But it did not appear in directories until 1871, when ‘Joseph Rodgers’ was listed as a spring knife manufacturer at 29 Norfolk Street.  It was the ‘successor to John Rodgers & Sons’.  The partners were Samuel Rodgers (1814-1883) and Joseph Rodgers (1847-1920).  Their father was Samuel (1814-1850), who was son of the founder of John Rodgers & Sons.   In the Census (1871), Samuel and Joseph were living at Cross Chapel Street, Bridgehouses.  Samuel, the head of the household, was a cutlery manager; Joseph was described as a 23-year-old ‘master cutler’, who employed ten men.  Samuel evidently owned the business, with Joseph’s name as a front – much to the irritation of Joseph Rodgers & Sons.  Its chairman, Robert Newbold, complained: ‘They are within 40 yards of our own place’ (Sheffield Independent, 24 January 1872).  Newbould need hardly have worried.  Joseph Rodgers & Co soon moved to Rio Works, Howard Street, from where in 1879 it advertised as a maker of pen, pocket, and American hunting knives.  But it was a tiny operation.  In 1881, Samuel told the Census that he employed only three men and a girl.  He died at 32 Howard Street on 22 September 1883, aged 42, leaving £894.  His tomb is at Burngreave Cemetery, which is also inscribed with the name of ‘Treasa’, the ‘beloved sister of Samuel and Joseph Rodgers’, who died at Morecambe in 1874, aged 30.

Samuel left the cutlery firm to his brother.  Joseph later stated that the business was then worth £1,000, with liabilities under £200 (Sheffield Daily Independent, 28 November 1907).  In 1884, Joseph Rodgers & Co advertised  as ‘formerly of Norfolk Street’, using ‘3436’ as its corporate mark.  A hookah pipe was another trade mark.  Joseph was briefly joined as a partner by Edward Lane, but this ended in 1889.  Joseph Rodgers & Co became a general merchant and sold electro-plate goods and files, besides cutlery.  Another partner, Walter F. Booker, was recruited, but he retired in 1897.  The overall impression is that the firm struggled.  In 1902, Joseph Rodgers, trading as Sheffield Scissors & Fork Co, faced a legal challenge from the Company of Cutlers for selling ‘steel’ scissors made of iron (Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 19 June 1902).  The case was dismissed.  However, in 1907 Joseph Rodgers filed for bankruptcy with debts of £3,174.  He was discharged in 1911 and began trading again under his own name at Jepson’s Wheel, Jessop Street.  He was soon in the law courts.  In 1914, Joseph Rodgers & Sons was awarded £20 damages after applying for an injunction to prevent Joseph Rodgers & Co again passing off goods as genuine ‘Rodgers’.  Joseph Rodgers died at Broomgrove Road on 21 March 1920, aged 73.  He was buried at the General Cemetery.  Joseph Rodgers & Sons had acquired the name ‘Joseph Rodgers & Co’  to prevent its further use.  But after Joseph’s death, his widow, Emily Beatrice, traded as Paragon Cutlery Co, Cumberland Street.  She still sold knives marked ‘Joseph Rodgers, Sheffield’.  She once unsuccessfully sued her manager for theft and forgery (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 10 May 1923).