John Hopkinson (1892-1955) was the son of Charles William Hopkinson (1848-1901) and his wife, Elizabeth Vickers (d.1925).  Charles was a silver finisher, who died on 18 September 1901, leaving £273.  He was buried in unconsecrated ground at City Road Cemetery.  In the Census (1911), his widow, Elizabeth, and the family were living at Countess Road.  John was an assistant manager at a saw manufactory.  In 1915, he married Florence May Fricker (1894-1984), who was the daughter of a roller in an iron works.  John started J. & F. Hopkinson & Co as a cutlery manufacturer and merged it with the Penton Cutlery Co, Penton Street, which was operated by Albert Newbould.  In August 1915, the partnership ended.  In November 1918, J. & F. Hopkinson was relaunched as a cutlery and tool manufacturer and merchant at 568 Shoreham Street.  Its products included ‘KINSO’ safety razors, which were advertised with ‘curved top tubular handles, to compete with imported high-prices lines’.   In 1922, Hopkinson filed for bankruptcy, with debts of £162.   He blamed ‘bad trade and shortness of capital’ (Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 11 September 1922).  He was discharged from bankruptcy in 1926 and resumed work as a cutlery and tool traveller.
    
In 1944, he registered F. E. & J. R.  Hopkinson Ltd (nominal capital £10,000) under his sons: Francis Eric (1915-2002) and John Richard (1917-1999).  In 1947, Hopkinson’s acquired the assets of John Nowill and Frank Mills.  The capital of the ‘Nowill’ company, at Hanover Works, 135 Scotland Street, was £1,000.  Besides John Hopkinson and his two sons, the directors included his wife, Florence May, and another son, Harry Maurice (1920-1989).   In 1949, Hopkinson’s moved to Trimils Works on London Road.  The hand-tool business of Rhodes Ltd was acquired, which enabled Hopkinson to sell a range of cutlery and tradesmen’s tools.  Hopkinson’s marketed Bowies, British Army Commando knives, Skean Dhu Scottish Highland knives, sailor’s and lifeboat knives.  These were stamped with the Nowill name and mark.  Many were supplied with leather sheaths.  John Hopkinson, Norton Lane, died in Sheffield on 18 January 1955, aged 63.  He was buried at Abbey Lane Cemetery, leaving £5,975.  His son, Harry Maurice, died on 18 October 1989, leaving £176,822.  In 1988, the Hopkinson assets and marks had been incorporated into J. Adams Ltd.  Peter Eric Richard Hopkinson, a grandson of John, became a director of the Adams’ company.