Barnett Samuel (1818-1882) was a Jewish trader.  His birthplace was apparently Gniezo, Wielkopolskie, Poland (then part of Prussia).  Sometimes he used the middle name Bernard.   Samuel arrived in Sheffield in about 1845.   In 1849, he married Caroline née Solomon (1822-1890) at a Synagogue in London.  He described himself as a hardware merchant.   In the Sheffield directory in that year, he was listed at Castle Street as a dealer in Birmingham and Sheffield goods and spring knife manufacturer.   In the Census (1851),  Samuel and his wife were living at Castle Street, with Samuel described as a comb manufacturer and shopkeeper, employing seven men.

In 1851, he took over the Fargate manufactory of George Deakin, a comb manufacturer.  In the Sheffield directory of 1851, Samuel was listed as a shell and horn comb manufacturer and cutlery dealer, Fargate (‘late Deakin’).  In 1856, he advertised by ‘Royal Letters Patent’ his patent shell handles and scales as equal to the most costly tortoiseshell (Sheffield Independent, 2 February 1856).  During the early 1860s, he operated from Sidney Works, Matilda Street.  He lived in Sandon Place and employed eight men and three women in comb manufacture.  Samuel and his family left Sheffield in the late 1860s.  By 1871, he was living in London and working as a music seller (later dealing in musical instruments).   Barnett Samuel, late of 4 Clifton Gardens, Maida Vale, London, died in Kensington on 14 June 1882.   He left £10,180.